SpartanMaker

So I'm a little more than 2 years out and for probably the last 6-8 weeks, I've gotten to where I just don't really enjoy eating most things. I'd say 90% of what I'm eating, I eat because I know I need to eat, not because I particularly enjoy it. Most things just taste off somehow to me, including things I used to really enjoy. I'm wondering if any other folks had anything similar happen? I will preface this by saying there's a possibility this is medication related, as I think I made a change to my meds about that same time. I'm investigating that separately.

I do think there's an element of "meh" going on with me as well. I'm not entirely sure if that's all due to things tasting a bit off, feeling tired (I've been really upping my workouts lately), or if I'm just losing some of the joy from eating. I'm sort of in the opposite boat in terms of food prep. I do almost all the food planning and shopping, as well as 90%+ of the cooking around my house. This is mostly because I'm retired and my wife is still working. When we were both still working, it was closer to 50/50. I do think if I didn't feel obliged to make food for her, I probably wouldn't bother for myself.

It's not, I promise! I could go into a lot of detail about why, but to make things short, I'd almost guarantee it's simply fluid retention. You recently had a long break from working out due to your surgery and now that you've started back working out, it's totally normal for your body to store a bit of extra fluid. Add in the implant weight and I think you're doing just fine.

I agree with @DaisyChainOz. There's probably a lot going into his feelings and communication is really important. As a man, I do also understand that some men (me included), just are not good at talking about our feelings. It's partly that we've been conditioned over a lifetime that feelings make us weak and thus we are "lesser" because of it. Also, we've just never learned how to express our feelings, nor to really understand them at all. It's not that we don't have feelings, we just don't really understand them in a way that can be expressed. I tell you all this so you can be patient with your husband. It may take some time for him to share what he's really feeling. The best thing to do is just be supportive and make sure he understands it's okay to share what he's thinking instead of what he's feeling. "Feeling" can be a trigger word for some men. One thing that may (or may not), help the discussion is understanding the risks involved. Again. I don't know what's going on in his head, but if he is fearful of change, or the risks of you having surgery, it's important to help him understand that by far, the riskier thing is NOT having the surgery. I don't know your age or current weight, but I'm assuming you are pretty heavy and likely older just based on the need for a hip replacement and the fact that your orthopedic surgeon won't do the surgery at your current weight. If you are in what's termed "Class III obesity" (in other words, you have a BMI over 40), that alone shortens your life expectancy by 10 to 14 YEARS. I think it's important for both of you to understand this. If he truly loves you, then he should want you to stick around longer.

I'd try to get your insurance company to pay for both. Gastric bypass is sometimes performed for reasons other than weight loss. Most commonly that would be for severe GERD and/or issues with gastric emptying. This happens even in patients that are not overweight and never had a previous sleeve procedure. My point is that I'd be willing to bet those procedures are covered by your insurance company since it's being done for strictly medical reasons. (Technically so is weight loss surgery, but insurance companies are stupid.) In your case it seems pretty obvious there's also medical need, so your insurance should pay for it. They'll probably deny it at first, so be prepared to fight them.

Forgot to add that the constipation was probably worse than any surgical pain. If your surgical team hasn't already communicated a plan to you for dealing with the constipation, talk to them ASAP. It's not nearly as bad if you stay ahead of it, but God forbid you wait until it's really bad!

I also had no nausea. I think the pain I had was mild compared to many other surgeries I've had. Probably the worst thing was the surgical gas pain. This is not pain in your intestines like some people think. It's from the CO2 or Nitrogen that they inject into your abdomen during the surgery. This will slowly be absorbed, but in the meantime, it puts pressure on your diaphragm and this irritates the phrenic nerve. This can cause referred pain into your shoulder that can be pretty painful. They'll tell you this, but the best thing to do is move!

Are you allergic to whey?

Welcome to getting old! I doubt this has anything to do with your bariatric surgery. Declining appetite as we get older is really common. in fact it's so common, they coined a term for it called the anorexia of aging. Obviously being really sick can drastically reduce appetite, but even in otherwise healthy people, there are multiple things that lead to appetite reduction. Common things are slowed gastric emptying, hormonal changes and impaired sense of smell and taste. Certain medications can also reduce appetite and since older folks are a lot more likely to be taking these meds, that can also contribute.

Gastric bypass patients should be taking at a minimum a bariatric multivitamin, as well as 1200-1500 mg of calcium per day. Vitamin D3 is also recommended, but most people get enough with just the above because typically both bariatric multivitamins and calcium supplements already contain additional D3. Some people also need B12 supplementation, however since I eat a lot of dairy, I've never had a problem with my B12 being low. Keep in mind that due to the surgery, we don't absorb nutrients like the did before. This is why we need to take these supplements for life. It's critical to have routine blood work and adjust what you take due to the results. For example, I had to change from a "normal" bariatric multivitamin so one with reduced B12 because my B12 was actually too high. In addition to the above, I also take probiotics and fiber pills daily.

I found this statement interesting. Can you define what real hunger is for you? What I mean is what are you actually feeling? I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I sometimes think we overuse this concept of "head hunger" vs. "real hunger". I know I've been guilty of that as much as anyone, but i think we should keep in mind that much of what people call real hunger is also "in our heads". A better way of differentiating hunger signals may be to call them homeostatic hunger and hedonic hunger since these happen somewhat differently. While this is oversimplified, homeostatic hunger starts as a signal from our stomach by way of production of ghrelin, which in turn activates AgRP neurons in the hypothalamus. Simply put, it may originate when the stomach is empty, but it's our brains that tell us it's time to eat again. This is not something we actively control. It's the bodies way of trying to keep you from starving to death. Hedonic hunger on the other hand is your body seeking pleasure from food. We like to say this is the one we want to control if weight loss is the goal, under the assumption that overall calorie intake will be less if we don't "give in" to cravings. Here's the thing, though. While scientists don't fully understand what's happening, we do know that dopamine and endocannabinoid receptors are being activated in our brains. Interestingly, just seeing or smelling certain foods can trigger these same processes. I wanted to explain this because it wouldn't be wrong to say all hunger is head hunger. The good news there is we also can be in control of both types of hunger, since they are both "in our heads". In terms of your specific situation, I think it would be rare to already be experiencing a lot of homeostatic hunger this early after surgery. On the other hand, it's probably not unheard of. For me personally, I was really bad at understanding what true hunger felt like. As a former obese person, I hated feeling hungry and would rather feel the overstuffed feeling in my guts since at least then my brain would quiet down. I'm not saying I've got it mastered, but I'm beginning to understand that when I'm truly hungry, I have other things going on like feeling weak, feeling irritated, and/or having brain fog. The strong urge to eat that i sometimes feel without those symptoms is probably more just my brain trying hard to either seek pleasure, or keep me from starving to death.

Have you already talked to a doctor? I believe the most common reason for this would be reactive hypoglycemia, but I'm sure there are other potential causes. Only a doctor can properly diagnose the problem.

Off hand, I'm not aware of any premade protein drinks that are readily available. You could always buy a vegan protein powder and mix your own. I'm curious, is there a reason you're wanting one without whey?

I strongly believe there is no perfect goal weight. I think the goal should rather be how you feel and how you feel you look. If you feel good and are happy with how you look, then you're at your goal. If you think you'd like to shed a few more pounds, then do so. If you feel like you look underweight, then it might be time to gain a bit. I would never recommend BMI as a guideline. A much better guideline would be % body fat, but accurate testing is expensive and not readily available. Keep in mind if you were obese for any length of time, your organs are likely bigger and your bones denser. This means you might look identical at 170 to someone that was never obese that weighs 150. Also, as most folks know, since muscle is denser than fat, the scale just does not tell the full story. There are people with a "normal" BMI that are carrying too much fat because they have so little muscle mass. I get it, especially for very goal-oriented people, they want something exact to shoot for, but when you think about all the above factors, picking a goal weight is just so random and almost certainly to be wrong for you.

10/10 would do again. I only wish I'd done it sooner. While no surgery is risk free, the mortality rate for bariatric surgery is pretty similar to other major elective surgeries, with the overall mortality rate at this point being right around ~1 in 1000, The factors that increase risk the most are higher BMI, older age, being male, as well as having pulmonary hypertension, heart disease, or liver disease. Obviously the more of those you have, the higher the risk. If you are younger, female, only moderately obese, and don't have any major illnesses, the risks should be much lower. It's also pretty well documented that the mortality rate from being obese is higher than the surgery, meaning the riskier thing to do is NOT have the surgery. I honestly feel like my bypass surgery probably saved my life. I felt at the time like I had one foot in the grave, but now feel so much better and healthier.

^ This. Post bariatric surgery eating is really hard! Never let anyone tell you that bariatric surgery is "the easy way out"! Regarding your protein intake, let's start with an understanding of why a protein-first diet is recommended post-surgery: Primarily, we are hoping to stave off something called muscle catabolism. This is when your body basically breaks down your own muscles. This happens mostly but not entirely to meet your daily essential amino acid needs. If we eat enough protein, this significantly reduces the amount of muscle mass your body will burn. That's important because the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism, meaning you'll burn more calories even at rest. Most scientific literature suggests that 60 grams per day of protein is sufficient to meet your essential amino acid needs and thus hold off the bulk of the muscle catabolism that happens while on a weight loss diet. Note that some muscle catabolism is inevitable and no amount of protein intake is going to prevent that. The second reason protein is important is because protein is filling and relatively slow to digest. Studies have shown that eating more protein than the 60 grams per day minimum can help you feel more full. That basically will result in reduced overall calorie consumption. For this, amounts between 1.6 grams to 2.2 grams per day per kilogram of ideal body weight have been shown to be effective. For example, if 60 kg was your ideal body weight. protein intake between 96 and 132 grams would be suggested. I'm not sure what your surgical team told you, but since you're already getting over the 60 grams per day minimum, I'd say you're doing fantastic! As you get further out from surgery, you'll probably want to consume more, but keep in mind that all it's really doing is keeping you full longer. It's not going to sabotage your weight loss due to excess muscle loss. TL;DR: You're going fine on protein, don't sweat it.

My hypoglycemia symptoms are mostly dizziness & shakiness. It passes quickly if I eat something to get my blood sugar back up. I don't have a problem with constipation at this point. I did early on, but now that I can eat more, I eat pretty well, with lots of veggies, fruit & whole grains (fiber). I also take probiotics and fiber supplements to stay regular.

I think the first thing that comes to mind is just how varied dumping syndrome can be. When the bariatric teams talk about it, they tend to tell you all the symptoms and that it tends to happen pretty quickly after eating. Unfortunately, it's not that simple or straightforward. Some people may only have one or two symptoms. Others multiple symptoms. For some people it happens really quickly, and for others it can take hours before it begins. Time to recover is also really varied. For some it's over with in 30 minutes or less. Others can be in agony for many, many hours. As an example, I'm over 2 years out and for the longest time I just assumed I was one of the lucky (or cursed depending of your perspective), people that didn't really have to worry about dumping. I can eat almost anything and not have "typical" dumping syndrome. What I do have is what I was calling reactive hypoglycemia, meaning I was having low blood glucose issues ~3 hours of so after eating. After talking to my bariatric surgeon in my last checkup, she pointed out that what I was calling reactive hypoglycemia, is likely just a different form of dumping. Once I started being more careful about not eating a bunch of added sugar without sufficient protein as a buffer, the symptoms mostly went away.

My base recipe is mostly: Either ~12 oz of a fairlife protein drink, or fairlife whole milk depending of what flavor I'm going for ~1.5 Tbs unflavored whey protein isolate ~2 Tbs instant pudding ~1 ts extract of your choice Add additional sugar substitute of your choosing if you like it sweeter This normally takes 1 spin on Lite Ice Cream and 1-2 re-spins. For me this is 2 servings, though YMMV. Sometimes, especially if I used a protein drink as the base, I'll use a little less of that and add in some Greek Yogurt to make it creamier. I personally don't like it if it's more than about 4 Tbs because it tends to be a bit tart for my tastes. Here's a more specific example I made recently (and just finished off today): 12 oz Fairlife whole milk ~1.5 Tbs Isopure whey protein isolate ~2 Tbs Butterscotch instant pudding ~6 drops ultra-concentrated Rum Extract Splenda to taste (I didn't measure) I added walnuts as a mix in Now it's your turn to share!

Love it! By the way, I also have a Ninja Creami and my latest passion is trying new recipes for protein ice cream. And yes, chunks of snickers have found their way into my creations. 😁

"Unless you stole it from an orphan..." 🤣🤣🤣 He's definitely on point with all of this, though I suspect most folks need some help and guidance on how to actually implement these things. I also agree that are no BAD foods, but there are definitely some that are better for you than others. Balance is important, and that may be the one point I'd add to what he said. Yes, eat all the foods, just make sure your "all" includes the salad and the veggies and the fruit and the whole grains, etc.

Collagen Protein by itself is not considered a complete protein because it only has trace amounts (at best) of tryptophan, an essential amino acid. As @NickelChip mentioned, some collagen protein supplements add L-tryptophan to make a more complete protein. Looking at the one your husband is suggesting however, it does not look to have any added L-tryptophan, meaning it's really not suitable. Something else to keep in mind is that whey protein has a huge number of scientific studies showing it's better at muscle protein synthesis than collagen. A protein first diet is recommended for bariatric patients due to the desire to spare muscle catabolism when on a very low calorie diet. If whey is better at muscle protein synthesis, then it makes sense to focus on whey (or alternately on lean whole foods like chicken & fish). This is the reason almost all bariatric surgeons will tell you that it's fine to take collagen, but you should be careful if you are counting it toward your overall daily protein goals. FYI, due to your issues with artificial sweeteners, you probably should be looking for an unflavored version of whey protein isolate. Because it's unflavored, it's also likely to be unsweetened. I personally like Isopure brand, but there are others that are good as well.

I also take prescription NSAIDS due to significant back issues, so I initially thought I could not go with bypass. However due to the risk of GERD (symptomatic and verified by endoscopy), my doctor did not recommend sleeve. The resolution was to go ahead with the bypass. With my doctor's blessing, I have continued to take the NSAIDS and have been successful because she also prescribed a Proton Pump Inhibitor for me. If you have any history of GERD, it would be best to at the very least have an endoscopy done to make sure you are still a good candidate for the sleeve. I don't know what the overall revision statistics are, but there sure are a lot of folks on here that initially had sleeve and had to get a revision to bypass. Some of those were due to poor results, but a lot seem to have been due to GERD.

Well, I don't fit your criteria (I was at about a 47 BMI at my highest), but I wanted to provide some overall perspective. There will always be some people that regret having bariatric surgery regardless of starting weight, but studies suggest that the vast majority are happy they had it done. The satisfaction rates seem to be about on par with other major "elective" surgeries such as joint replacement. In the studies available, there was a very strong correlation between satisfaction and weight loss success. That makes sense, because if you can't maintain the weight loss, this would tend to make you think it was a waste of time, money and that you went through a lot of hardship for nothing. Another strong correlation existed between those with eating disorders and dissatisfaction. Again, this makes sense because of the correlation between success and satisfaction. If you have an eating disorder, it's certainly possible to out eat any surgery. Those that report the highest satisfaction would tell you it was nothing short of life changing. At the end of the day, only you can decide if it's the right decision for you.

What you're experiencing is completely normal. Partly your body is simply trying to heal from the surgery, so food right now is not what a healing stomach wants. Regarding the tastes changing, it's entirely possible that some foods you used to like you may never want again. Other things you'll learn to enjoy again. This is just something we all go through. The water thing should get better over time. At this point, your stomach is likely still swollen, so it just can't hold very much. Most of us had to really be religious about drinking just maybe 1-2 ounces at a time and trying to drink every 10-15 minutes while awake. This is hard right after surgery, but as I said, it gets a lot easier as the swelling goes down and you're able to drink more normal amounts. The nausea is a little unusual this far out, so I'd honestly recommend talking to your surgical team. It could just be from overeating/drinking, but it's best to talk to the experts. Regarding weight loss, you have to keep in mind that your body is made up of a lot of other "stuff" besides just fat. You may well be retaining fluid or stool and that can mask weight loss early on. It's physiologically impossible to be eating as little as you are and not losing fat, so please just have faith in the process. The best thing you can do is follow your surgical team's post-op instructions and you WILL lose fat.