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Just got my surgery date 7/23 for bypass. Just bought all my vitamins from Bariatric Pal. Stocking up on shakes, protein powder, yogurt smoothies, soup, jello. I do 10 days of liquids preop starting this Friday with the last 3 days being clears only. Going to have my steak Thursday night tho! 😂😜

I was surprised today to learn I don't have to do an all liquid diet except the 24 hours before. I have to follow an 800-900 calorie diet for the 11 days before eating food from my bariatric food store. So I'm glad it's not just going to be having liquid, till after the surgery! 😀

Hi ShoppGirl. I've been drinking the Fairlife shakes from Costco. I've also been working through the Fresh Start Bariatric Cookbook by Sarah Kent. What I like about it is that each recipe is labeled for which stages/surgery applies, with serving sizes and nutritional profile. It has a beef barley recipe that is great. I'm a lazy cook, so one of my usual go-to's is chicken thighs with lots of pepper, garlic powder, paprika and a little salt. Bake 40 minutes at 400-425 F. I eat it with a salad or cut and use for stir fry. I used to crochet when I was a little girl - just single and double stitch. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have plenty of time to learn more about it.

Thanks everyone. I’ve had a call back from a Sister from the unit. They are really lacking in empathy. I felt I was being patronised and being accused of going in this morning with the attitude that it was going to be difficult. Actually, no I didn’t. I had no concerns at all, hubby had an endoscopy last Friday for something else and it was very simple and straightforward for him. I was expecting the same - why would I expect anything different?? It took some effort to get the Sister to actually have some understanding of what I was trying to say, and even then she wasn’t convinced I don’t think. I tried to remain calm but it wasn’t happening. I think it was me saying that if I reacted the same was next time under the ‘spaced out’ sedation then I will take myself off the Bariatric surgery list. I think this finally made her realise how serious I was. She’s now putting a note on to whoever’s list I am on to request an anaesthetist procedure so I am completely knocked out. Apparently it will cause a delay going forward with the bariatric surgery etc as there’s a long wait but so be it. UPDATE: Just had a call to see if I wanted to go to the sister hospital tomorrow morning for 8am for a fully knocked out endoscopy - YES PLEASE!! The relief 😊

Great advice from the others. I’ll add track what you are eating now, how much, what & how often. It can help identify where you’re veering off course. It can also help to note your emotions or why you may be eating when you do. (Why do I want this snack? Am I bored, angry, sad, happy, frustrated, etc.) Then start making changes. Make one or two changes every two weeks or so. For example, cut back on portion sizes & up your fluids, then reduce how often you eat (drop a snack) & meet your protein goal, then try switching up your ingredients & cooking styles, etc. It’s easier to adopt & adapt to one or two small changes at a time than making huge changes all at once. Also find a therapist who can support you as you work through your relationship with food. If you didn’t see someone before your surgery, your team should be able to recommend someone who deals with bariatric patients & disordered eating.

I recommend Poo-pouri. Spray before you go and it forms a film on the water helping to keep the smell contained under it! I've used it for years (we also have septic if this is a concern). I have one in each bathroom and one in my purse/backpack! It works well. I'm not a fan of the lemongrass scent (they all have it as the underlying scent) but its certainly better than bariatric blow out smell! 🤦💩

I have been making protein drinks at home. I add berries and Greek yogurt, peanut butter. My bariatric surgeon is doing everything. I had an endoscopy done and an upper gi and everything looked good. He just ordered bloodwork to check for malnutrition but even that was in range. I have tried different anti-nausea medications and none seem to work. He thinks the next step is a feeding tube.

95 pounds in 3 months??? That's very alarming. That's roughly 32 pounds per month. That's not ok, no matter how you look at it. Your tests have all come back normal? If you can't eat, that's a real problem. I guess try having as many protein shakes as you can. If you make them at home, add things to them like greens powder, frozen fruit, avocado, maybe peanut or almond butter....whatever you can to get as much in you as possible. You need protein and calories and healthy fats right now. You also need fluids. Protein shakes will count as protein, calories, and fluids. See if you can get some zofran for the nausea. Which doctor is doing your tests, your primary or your bariatric? You should definitely be seeing your bariatric surgeon for this.

It's not that you need hard truth, you just need to face some truths for yourself. There's nothing we can tell you that you don't already know. You know what the bariatric diet is. You know what to eat and what not to. You know how much to eat, how often, and when to stop. You need to get back to basics. Maybe start the bariatric diet over. Do a week on each step of the diet to retrain your stomach and brain on what to do and not do. There's no "pouch shrinking diet" but there's a "retrain yourself how to eat properly again" diet, and it's essentially to start back over with the basics and go from there. Reach back out to the nutritionist from your surgeon's office if you need help or new meal ideas. Go back to using calorie/carb/protein/fat counting apps. Measure out your food again. Log your meals and meal plan. Make sure you're moving your body at least a little every day. Cut out sugar and salt as much as you can. Do all the things you did when you lost the 70 pounds. Do the things you already know to do. There's not really any new tips and tricks. It's lifestyle changes you need to make and stick with. If you didn't do it before, do it now.

Lol. Sounds like something a son would say to their mom. A friend of mine told me about a product called pou pouri that they use at her work since they only have one small bathroom for everyone. I found it on Walmarts website but they have it elsewhere. A pack of three small ones for ten bucks. They sell bigger ones too but I am most concerned for when I am away from home so the smaller size is good for me. They have a pretty comical animation on the manufacturer website that demonstrates that it puts a barrier on the top of the water that somehow blocks the smell and makes it smell like flowers. Anyways, she hasn’t had any bariatric surgery but claims it helps a pretty good deal for their situation so I’m going to give it a shot.

I didn’t loose any weight with the liquid diet because I had already been following the bariatric plan for a whole year before the surgery so my body was used to being calorie restricted. The salt levels sound kind of high… like others have said. Don’t be surprised if you gain weight while in hospital because the IV fluids are full of salt too. Just keep drinking water and it will come off. Best of luck with your recovery!

Even though it's 4th of July and everything is closed, I'm doing some research today on new doctors that actually have knowledge about massive weight loss in patients who have had bariatric surgery. I plan to make some calls on Friday and set up a new patient appt or 2 (this time around, I'm interviewing them before I commit...neve ever thought I'd be doing THAT, lemme tell ya). I wasn't going to go to my appt on the 17th, but I think I still will to get my blood work done and my vitals, and to tell her that I'm seeing a new doctor and why. Actually, I want to tell the medical assistant because she'll put it in my chart. At this point, I'm not sure if the doctor will. I know I'm due for my 6 mo ekg in office, my full vitals, my meds refilled, and my blood work. I want all of that done before I go to a new doctor so they have the most recent and up to date records on me and the most accurate place to start. I will NOT be entertaining any discussions about phentermine or losing more weight. I may go ahead and lose those 3 pounds that @ShoppGirl mentioned, that way nobody can say anything either way. But still.... I'm leaving that practice no matter what. I'm not happy or comfortable there at this point.

Thank you all so much. I was so taken aback by this entire conversation. She even had the gall and AUDACITY to ask me if I wanted to try phentermine!!! PHENTERMINE!!! I told her that not only would I never ever take that, I would be finding a new doctor. For her to KNOW about the cardiac issues I had after my hernia surgery in December and then suggest a medication with known cardiac implications....I can't fathom what was going through her mind. She said to me that if I felt better at maybe 170 instead of 155 or 160, she could maybe see if that would be ok. I said "Ok with WHO?? It's MY body, and I'm ok with it as it is now". She said I've come so far and made so much progress that it seems like such a shame to not get myself to a healthier and more normal weight and bmi. I explained AGAIN that I lost 238 pounds from my highest weight, which is what I weighed when I first came to her. I reminded her that SHE REFERRED ME TO THE BARIATRIC SURGEON. I reminded her that I've lost 205 pounds since my first surgery. I've done enough. I've gotten off all of my meds that I wanted to, started the career I wanted, became active and started doing all the things I wanted to. I have my life and health back. There is NOTHING else I need or want to accomplish, besides plastics in a few years. She didn't use to be like this. She was an amazing doctor. But for some reason, she's jumped on the BMI bandwagon and decided that it's the only way to judge if someone is healthy. I can't get behind that, and I can't tolerate this from her anymore. Definitely looking for a new doctor.

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I am having the SADI and I don’t know if that’s the reason for my issues (because this is kinda new) or if everyone gets this type of runaround. I have some questions about what vitamin I should be taking and the post op diet that neither of the TWO differnt nutritionist I paid for could answer for me and I questioned what one told me about the pre op diet. I figured I could just ask the dr at my post op about the vitamins but realized that I am scheduled to see the PA. Well, I met said PA already and I didn’t like him. He clearly knows ALOT about bariatric surgery, just not the SADI specifically . I had a whole list of questions and everytime I asked one he skirted it and talked about the other surgeries in general. Basically he said a whole lot or words and answered a whole lot of nothing. Well thankfully the Dr did not make me feel rushed at all and he answered every one of them on my next visit so that worked out fine but I do not want my follow up with that PA.. I called and asked his office if I could change it to the dr and they would not go for that but did claim that the NP actually knows a lot more about the Sadi so they changed my follow up appointments to her. Fingers crossed they weren’t just saying that. Then I asked about the pre op diet and what the nutritionist said which was that for the two day liquid diet I was not to have anything red or purple. The receptionist says you shouldn’t be having anything that comes in red or purple anyways. I said um…jello, popsicles, diet drinks such as crystal light and gator aide??? She says well you aren’t supposed to have any of that for the Sadi pre op. I said well then I must have the wrong book or something because I’m reading it from what you gave me And it lists all that as well as fudge sickles and yogurt. She puts me on hold then tells me I should just come in and talk to the NP before my surgery since I have so many questions. I said I feel like because this is new everyone is your office knows that the procedures is different yet all of the information you are giving me is generic for the other two more common surgeries and I am supposed to just magically know somehow what to do differently. She says well it is the correct information you just aren’t supposed to have this and this and this. I bit my tongue. I said you know I’m am really not trying to be difficult. I Just need to get the correct information. I know that this is routine for you but this is my body and it’s major surgery. I’m anxious enough without having to cross my fingers that I’m doing my part correctly and don’t do something that is going to jeopardize my life or my surgery just because someone handed me the wrong paper and told me the wrong things to do. My god It’s just so blooming irritating that I should have to go through all this, waste my time, money and frustration just because they don’t know. If they don’t know an answer just say that. And get back to me after they learn it. It’s that simple. Don’t try to fake your way through it and give me the wrong directions rather than just admit they don’t know. Idk if I’m just getting old when I feel like it’s a generational thing that they feel like if they are just confident enough that it will be okay even if they are wrong. Then again I’ve seen this in all ages. It’s okay to admit when you don’t know!! It’s the medical field And little mistakes can cost lives. So far I have paid two incompetent nutritionist and i am having to go for two extra office visits just because they don’t know the information the first time. But even worse what if I didn’t ask and did the wrong pre op. Okay Rant over. 😂

BMI isn't always the best way to judge for people who've lost massive amounts of weight because even though we've lost muscle and bone mass in addition to fat, we still have more muscle and bone than "normies" who weigh about the same but were never obese. (we needed a lot of infrastructure to hold up all that weight!). The PA at my bariatric clinic said we often look 10+ lbs lighter than the scale would suggest, because of that extra muscle & bone (well, there's the extra skin, too - but skin doesn't weigh very much. I think I "lost" about 4 lbs after my skin surgery - but there's that, too, if you haven't had it removed). Your PCP evidently hasn't worked with a lot of massive weight loss patients....

So my doctor has me seriously ticked off. She told me she'd like to see my weight and bmi down. I said "WHAT???? I weigh 183 and my bmi is 30. What's wrong with it???" She told me she wants to see my weight around 155 or 160 and me at a normal bmi. I was like "if I do that, I'll look sickly!!! I've always been bigger boned and somewhat curvy, I carry my weight differently. Not one person would look at me right now and think I look like I weigh 183. No way would I look healthy if I went down to 160" and she said it would be better for my health and I should at least think about it. I told her "my blood pressure already runs on the low side of normal. I struggle to keep it up to 103/55!!! My A1c is 5.0 and my glucose is 96. I'm not on any meds except what I take for my MS. All my labs come back perfect. What else do you want??" I told her I feel amazing, I'm really active, I'm able to work as a clinical medical assistant for a busy specialty practice (infectious disease) which has always been my dream, I hike, I work out, literally I'm living the life I only dreamed about. What am I missing here???? I was so mad. And she said we'll discuss it at our appt on the 17th. I said "oh we'll discuss some stuff, alright, but that ain't happening". She's going based off my height, weight, bmi, and their supposed "ideal weight" BS. My bariatric surgeon is ecstatic with my progress. He actually said I've lost more, with both surgeries, than he realistically expected that I would. My neurologist is thrilled because losing all the weight has significantly improved my MS symptoms. My gastroenterologist is thrilled because all of my GI issues have gone away. Just this idiot yahoo isn't happy. I definitely think I need a new doctor. This is just too much. For reference, here's what I looked like when I first started seeing her, and here's what I look like now, literally this week....as in Monday and yesterday.....

I totally agree with the part about those patients who have had bariatric surgery, but ended up losing much more weight than they anticipated, looking emaciated. I had the mini gastric bypass procedure and ended up looking like a prisoner from a concentration camp.

My advice to everyone is to first trial the GLP1 type drugs and see if it helps with weight loss. Maintaining the weight loss will be a lifetime commitment no doubt. But it's much better than having drastic bariatric surgery. Why change your anatomy if drugs can do the trick. So if your insurance covers weight loss medication, please consider that route first. Weight loss surgery does improve one's quality of life, but it has its fair share of drawbacks too.

I believe that with bariatric surgery, excluding the lap band, everyone's stools smell a lot worse. I originally had the mini gastric bypass and honestly, when sat on the toilet passing stools, I'd almost pass out from the smell, it was that nauseating. Nothing ever reduced the smell, even dietary changes. These procedures are very powerful and alter the digestive anatomy.

@Averdra the bariatric therapist thing is an excellent idea. Many people on here swear by them. For most people the eating and not drinking is a pretty easy lesson to learn because most people vomit if they don’t follow that rule. I was the exception who got pretty lax about that over the years so I am mindful of that as well. A tip for easily getting in uour protein once your past the phase eating stages is to cook a couple chicken breasts or cuts of fish, whatever protein and keep in fridge . Then make them into differnt things each night or just prepare several of the same meal and freeze leftovers. When it comes to variety, perhaps you can give me some tips. And to increase water try varying the temp of fluids. Warm, not hot tea and broth go down easier for some people with the added bonus that they tend to make most people feel more full. Some people even find that they prefer room temp liquids post surgery. Then there are of course flavor enhancers as a last resort (the artificial sweeteners aren’t ideal so if you can avoid them by all mean do) but they are very tasty and they are making new ones everyday. Just google sugar free drink and you will see plenty that look good. Also remember that ALL fluids count towards you goal to include soups, jello, popsicles and even yogurt if i remember correctly.

They also have protein shots right here on bariatric pal. I’ve Never tried them but when you mention not having to love them, I bet it would be easier with a smaller amount 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thanks!’ I thought so too, but I never heard mention of that other one so I’m gonna give it a run by my dr when I see him post surgery about that and whether I should start with the regular bariatric or the Sadi specific vitamin right away. Just doesn’t make sense to take the shake and the chew together if they both absorb. Either I will end up absorbing too much or just pee money down the drain. Same thing if I take the multi and the shake if the iron just cancels out the calcium in the shake. Not the end of the world either way. I’m sure it will work its way out when I get my first labs but now I’m curious. 🧐

I think I’m entering my ‘stall’ period now. Having had numerous attempts at weight loss in the past, I know my body sulks between week 3 and week 7. I’m just beginning week 5 so the timing is bang on. My weight has gone up 1.5lbs from my lowest weight this week but it happens so I will just keep on keeping on. Once my body has got over its sulk the weight should start coming off once again. A couple of NSV this week. I don’t know about anyone else but my clothing sizes can be a bit all over the place. One size of clothing can have 3 meanings for me, depending on what it’s made of. So, for example, there’s the ‘I’m kidding myself’ sizing - plenty of give, elasticated, stretchy material. It may say 22 but I know it’s really a 24+. There’s then the ‘huh, it’s not too bad’ sizing - some give, not that stretchy, a definitely generous 22, and then there’s the ‘unforgiving’ sizing - no give, no stretch, no elasticated waist etc, a definite 22. For long enough I’ve been at the ‘I’m kidding myself’ stage but I went shopping in my wardrobe and found a couple of tops with no give, a definite 22. Tried both on - they fit!! And they didn’t look like sausage skin!! Very happy dance around the bedroom! I also went out of my comfort zone at the weekend and bought myself a size 22 no-stretch denim maxi skirt. I can fasten it, just, but don’t rate my chances of sitting down and/or breathing in it 😮‍💨 However, I’m keeping it as I know I will fit in to it comfortably at some point. We’re off to London for a few nights in 3 weeks or so, so fingers crossed it may fit a little better by then 🤞🤞 Meds have finally been sorted and delivered, had my Oximetry test last week so hopefully that’s gone well. No Bariatric appointments this week but I have my endoscopy next week plus knee X-rays for my arthritis. Food wise things are going OK. My new favourite thing is Lindhals Stracciatella Kvarg protein yoghurt - oh, I could eat barrels of the stuff! I’ve also tried the Warburtons Protein Power bread as a change to the whole meal. It’s definitely nice as a change but doesn’t want to make me eat lots and lots of it, which is a definite plus! Hope everyone has a great week… Onwards and Downwards!