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Today is week 5... Some days I feel the restrictions while eating and other times I don't feel anything, but I stop at my portion size. Is that normal? It makes me wonder if something is wrong. Also. I haven't had any trouble eating soft veggies and such. I am getting liquids in quickly, but not too fast without trouble. What I am getting to is this... I seem to be doing ok, but is something wrong for me to be doing good and for tolerating things that others might not? TIA

Time is going by so fast .

I have been battling with eating, still barely sipping my liquid foods and protein shakes. But any time I eat or attempt to, I feel dizzy and can barely eat enough. No pre-conditions before surgery and I lost 20+ pounds in 9 days post surgery. After eating i have to lay down or I'd pass out or fall. I start panting, breathing fast and I have to lay down to catch my breath. Anyone has this....I'm just now 10days post surgery.

Welcome to the forums. I'm not one to give advice on pre-op diets because I completely mucked mine up. First, unless things have changed because of the years that have passed or the novel Corona virus, pre-op tests are typically only good for 6 months. I assume you are in contact with your medical team and you/they have addressed this if only to determine it's not an issue. Back to your actual question. You didn't indicate how long until surgery and how long you've been doing your protein shake + exercise plan. So, do the math. You've lost 3 pounds in x days. You have y days until surgery. so at the current rate can you lose the necessary weight in the days remaining. So (3/x) * y = weight you are likely to lose by surgery date. Hows that number look? I'm guessing not good. If the math says you'll get there, or even within a pound or two, then keep doing what your doing. You can always literally starve yourself the last day or so to drop temporary weight quickly. I wouldn't be able to do this. Fortunately you're not me. Hopefully, this will be the last time you have to worry about losing weight fast. Keep doing what you're doing, nothing jumps out at me. Folks may come along with new fangled 'set point' stuff, or some new kelp program, maybe those will help. A lot of words for not much help. It's what I do. Good Luck, Tek

I have totally done the same thing a few times, but with chicken. It always happens when I am distracted or very hungry when I start to eat.🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ I end up eating too fast, and then the pain/puke thing. I still eat chicken regularly without issues, so probably not related to the pork.

Hi STLoser - We sounds pretty similar with regards to recovery - No major issues, tolerating everything fine, etc. I experienced the same thing once after eating too fast (and even with pork). So far, since then no other issues - I would say if it continues to happen, call your doc, otherwise - Lesson learned.

So, I'm 3 months post op today and it's gone very well. I've tolerated everything I've eaten, and never threw up except the first couple days post op. I have had some times where maybe I took one bite too many and had a little discomfort, but nothing major. I actually just talked about this with my mom yesterday. I was wondering if I just got lucky or just really did chew well and eat slow enough. We were at my mom's all day. I was helping her clean and organize her basement and I can really lose track of time when I clean, so I hadn't eaten all day after breakfast. I was very hungry by the time we got food. We ordered Mexican. I got pork carnitas, which I thought would be a good choice. It was low carb and I've had pork several times and did fine. I was hungry and I know I ate too fast, and also didn't chew well. I have done well with this up until tonight, but when I'm too hungry it's hard to go slow. Anyway, a few bites in I started having pain in my chest and then immediately knew I had to throw up, which I did. So, is this because I chewed too fast, or because I didn't tolerate the pork? I feel like I must have not chewed enough, but I'm not sure. I never, ever want to make this mistake again! Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

Hello all. I have been browsing the forum for a while and been building up the courage to write what’s been going on to see if this is normal. Got a vertical sleeve 9/25. Today according to my doctor I would be on soft. The first few weeks of liquid weren’t bad but I was over pushing a few things nothing crazy. Long story short I have been trying different things like corned beef, tuna, refried beans, chicken lemon rice soup and I can’t eat anything. Everyday I feel sick every meal I feel like **** excuse my language I can’t get throughout the day without a nap. I started taking vitamins this bariatric ones but they taste nasty but they help sometimes but not with my mood I’m honestly getting depressed. I barely eat because everything feels like it’s getting stuck in my throat or upsets my stomach. They want me having 80 grams of protein a day I can’t even manage 10... I can’t even eat a whole string cheese without feeling like I’m going to vomit. This is getting harder as it goes on for me and it’s making me regret everything. My weight pre op was 340 I got down to 325 before surgery and an 293 now but it’s because I literally barely eat bc I’m afraid too. I can’t drink water fast so I barely drink water bc I have to take small sips or I choke on it. I almost die every night in the middle of the night when I wake up thirsty and forget to drink slow. Is this normal? I call my doctor and they blame it on me. I started smoking again last week but have felt this way prior. I had some internal bleeding in my abdominal tissue but it cleared up. The last 2 weeks have been the worse. Cereal went down ok but even eggs give me trouble and even when I do eat it’s literally 1-5 bites max and I’m done.

I have had a few food funerals too. Mexican, and a milkshake. I stopped them because I wanted to create my good habits now, to keep them going after. My ex-sil had gastric bypass. She did very well and lost a lot of weight, but she stalled really hard because they ate the same things. Fast food, cheeseburgers...just she ate a quarter of it instead of the whole thing. I’m definitely wanting to avoid all those things anyway! Im nervous how to get by with the liquid diet at work, without having to tell people. We eat all together, so they will notice I’m not eating solid food. I’m not sure what to say when they ask, and they will because we all can be some nosy b’s. 😂😂.

I agree with you. Checking in and letting go helps to keep us more sane. I hear ya! I'm on the extended release kind for Metformin and I've been rather miserable on it. Early on I told my PCP (primary care physician) that it was causing havoc on my stomach, but he said all medication will have some form of side effect and for me to choose which one I'm going to live with. Well... I figured I'd just stick to metformin. My appointment went well. I asked the surgeon so many questions that I thought he was going to kick me out! LOL He was very patient and allowed me to shoot away. I asked him things like "What size bougie do you use and why? How does the bougie size relate to GERD? How big will my pouch be? Do you staple and suture? Is it okay to mix Miralax in water? Does sleeve make you susceptible to diverticulitis attacks? How many incisions will you make? Do your patients complain about excessive pain? What do you do to get the gas out as this is very important to me? Do your patients complain about lack of energy? If so how long did it last? What is your complication rate? Do you use an epidural? Approximately how many of your patients experience hair loss? He game me a cuddle bear to bring with me to the surgery. It was a nice touch. I don't have to start my preop till the weekend, but I've decided to start tomorrow. Originally I thought I'd have to start today, so the two extra days were a bonus for me. Since my friend (she's not having surgery) is going to do the preop diet with me, I decided to start tomorrow. I've been having food funerals as it's been referred to in the message boards. In doing so, I'm actually getting fed up of food. My family is quite enjoying all the restaurant foods we've been ordering. We don't do the cheaper fast foods, so our pockets don't feel the same way about this phase!

I've been reading through this thread and have a question. Im having revision surgery next week. Went from sleeve to MGB and now to RNY because i have horrible reflux. I had excessive weight gain in the years of trying to get to a solution, so I'd love to lose some weight with this as well, but it is not the reason Im having surgery. I see a lot of people asking for stories of success and mostly Im reading that "it's just not as fast" or "I miss my sleeve" but you guys still lost weight right? Just took longer, so had success, but not as fast as you wanted?

Be honest but resolved in your choice. The person that I chose as my medical proxy asked me the night before surgery if "I was certain I didn't want to just do it naturally"! I found it abhorrent to try and dissuade me at the last minute. But I was unwavering. If someone can make you doubt yourself or decision, you may have to consider whether or not you want to invite that type of issue prior to surgery. I told my people after (quite a long time after for fear of open ended criticism) and no one was surprised or critical because I apparently "did well". My Mum said of course how else could you have lost the weight so fast 🤣 Since your father is sweet you may not have a problem at all. If he has any concerns ask him to attend a seminar (before or after) or go with you to pre-op, etc. Good Luck and Congratulations ♥️

+1 on the intermittent fasting. I do 8:16 IF. It took me a while to get used to it, but it does help in the mindless snacking I did prior to surgery. The main thing is to find what works for you and stick to it. Whether that is an app or just pen and paper.

Hi, I wonder if you are still doing your fasting? Im going to try either Water fasting (just water no food for a week) or 24 hours fasting (eat one meal/day start at lunch time). Ive gained 17 kg since covid lockdown and now it is nearly the time for me to go back to work😔😔 I really need to lose weight in a month. Hope the fasting will help me lose faster. I join this site hoping to get some motivations like we can do it together and update how we go everyday.

Am curious if any that had the RNY procedure use intermittent fasting and if so, which method? Has it helped you? Due to my Dr changing my synthroid dosage my weight loss has went to a crawl. Just 3 lbs since July 5th and was losing 2 lbs/week before then. Am considering doing intermittent fasting to shake things up.

My thoughts are with you and your family. On getting back to weight loss, don't think the below as a weight loss diet because weight loss diets end. Then one returns to the 'normal' diet which results in weight gain. This is just the old habits reasserting. Get back on your post-op plan. Return to the good habits you learned during the early post-op months. Whatever you do now, it won't be fast weight loss, but if you are consistent you will get where you want to be. Then you need to continue on plan consistently for the rest of your life. If you're inclined increase your activity or even :gasp: exercise. Exercise is not my thing, but I am active(ish). Good luck, Tek

I think tracking is super important for weight loss. I lost about 70 pounds before surgery just by doing two things: tracking everything in MyFitnessPal and intermittent fasting. I haven't used the Baritastic app because I really like MyFitnessPal, but I think the two apps have many of the same features (barcode scanner, ability to enter recipes and meals, copy meals from one day to another, etc.). I find it super easy to use -- much easier than calorie counting of the old days where I had to look up everything in a book or calculate the points or something. MyFitnessPal gave me a calorie goal of 2280, and at first, it was a challenge to stay under that, but tracking everything made me more aware of the calorie content of foods and made me think, "Is it worth eating this?" Like @Uomograsso, I gradually decreased my calories over the course of the 5 months before surgery to the point that I was averaging about 1500 calories per day. Something that worked for me was that I made myself enter the food BEFORE I ate it -- basically like budgeting, to make sure I had enough calories left before I started eating. Intermittent fasting is a bit controversial, but it really helped me to cut back on snacking by making me get used to going long periods of time without eating. I did 16/8 fasting (fasted for 16 hours per day and had an 8-hour window for eating), fasting from after dinner until lunch the next day. Another nice thing about intermittent fasting is that since I was splitting the calories between two meals instead of three, I felt less deprived because I could eat a lot at those two meals and stay under my calorie goal. I actually didn't make huge changes in what I was eating, like cutting out sugar or carbonated beverages (I did cut out caffeine a few months before surgery, but it wasn't a huge sacrifice because I don't drink coffee, and I just switched from caffeinated diet soda to caffeine-free diet soda), because intermittent fasting was a big enough change for me! If you can do it, kudos to you, but I think sometimes we fail at diets because we try to change too much, too fast, and it's overwhelming so we just give up. I did make gradual changes to what I was eating, like eating a salad before dinner to fill me up, and switching to light salad dressing because the regular dressing wasn't worth the calories. I also started eating protein bars as snacks and found one I loooooove (Built Bars -- so delicious!), which became a nice, relatively healthy treat for me.

I'm doing fine (surgery on 9/21). Down 19 since surgery and 56 total, so feeling good about my progress. I have been pushing a bit too fast with eating foods I probably shouldn't, but my body lets me know right away. If I stick to the plan, I feel OK, other than being tired a lot. I'm over halfway to my goal, so I'm anxious to get there.

VSG - 3+ yrs ago so slightly different than what maybe happening this year: I called the local Bariatric Surgery practice to inquire about how to start the process and was told to attend an in person seminar where all of the information would be discussed After the seminar I called to set up an appointment with the surgeon. At the appointment my insurance was processed, weight taken then official first meeting with the surgeon where we discussed my health & medical history as well as my options. I chose to move forward with surgery ASAP. The head nurse/office manager set up my first nutritionist appointment for the same day because the NUT was available right after my consult. I was given info on the diet I needed to begin to follow (I needed to meet just once or twice more with the NUT prior to surgery for more instructions and weigh ins). At checkout from the initial consult, I was handed a huge packet of info on the next steps/appointments. There were some the office set up and some I needed to do on my own. I needed to meet with my primary for insurance authorization & prior weight loss history. Next was the psychologist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist , sleep study, and my neurologist (case specific) Final steps were endoscopy and barium swallow test then the final required WLS seminar. Once it was all complete, all materials were submitted and I waited for insurance approval. Once approval arrived I was given options on surgery dates. Prior to surgery I needed to complete pre-op lab/paper work including meeting with the anesthesiologist about 1 week before surgery. No pre-op diet required but I did one for ~ 5 days because I was nervous. Day of surgery (5 am) was just more paperwork then briefly meeting with the team one more time. Administered light sedation then headed into the OR suite, met the surgerical team, placed on surgerical table, wired with monitors/leads, IV placed and then placed under general anesthesia. From initial call to surgery day ~4 months. *Revision to RNY (1+ yr ago): At one of my regular follow up appointments I told my AMAZING Surgical PA that my GERD symptoms had increased significantly. I was scheduled to see the new Surgeon immediately (original one left the practice). At the appointment with my new Surgeon it was suggested to conduct an endoscopy immediately. It was scheduled for the same week. My new Surgeon conducted the endoscopy to have first hand info on my anatomy since they were not the original Surgeon. A few days later we met again to discuss my options (revision or several months of repeated balloon dilatations) I choose revision and was scheduled for 12 days later. Please note that I was "fast tracked" and I didn't need to repeat any of the initial prerequisites because I was at goal weight and demonstrated significant need for the procedure. No insurance issues either for the same reasons. But this time I had to do the 2 week pre-op diet. The day of revision surgery the same as first surgery. Good Luck with your journey ❤️

We are in a very special circumstance. We have been able through weight loss surgery(WLS) to get a gigantic boost to lose weight. We are able to lose that weight effortlessly without much work. (Beside the process and procedure of WLS) We have this superpower that we never had before, rapid weight loss. Some in my support group have told me, you can go to sleep for six months and the weight will still come off. It's a superpower that we want to believe will last forever. Then one day we lose our superpower. We are now mere mortals in the weight loss world. A pound regain turns to two, then four then....you know the rest. It's not so easy to lose the weight as it was after WLS. In fact we find ourselves in the same circumstance we were in prior to WLS. Struggling to lose weight and feeling hopeless and discouraged that we can't lose it as fast as we did post WLS. I know that feeling well. Prior to WLS I lost a lot of weight (60lbs) and you guessed it I regained it all back and then some. For 17 years I struggled to lose the weight as my body deteriorated with heart disease, diabetes, GERD, high blood pressure, gout and other maladies. I was taking so much medication that put both my liver and kidneys were in danger of failing me. I decided on WLS. I was taking 11 plus pills a day. The day I walked out of the hospital I was prescribed two pills. I did not want to repeat my mistake of years ago and I made my goal weight my "RED ALERT" weight. I weight myself every week on the same day and same time to monitor my weight. After slipping on a vacation ( ate pastries) I realized that I needed additional help. I sought a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and was diagnosed as a compulsive over eater.She recommended that I seek the help of Overeaters Anonymous. I attend OA meetings as well as the group meetings my surgeon sets up. During Covid my meetings with support groups and the therapist were curtailed and I subsequently gained weight. I could not lose the weight no matter what I tried. I too despaired and lamented that my brief flirtation with my weight loss superpowers were over. Fortunately for me I have a few family and friends that had WLS after I had mine and we are our own support group. ( I encourage people to hook up with other WLS patients and call, not write or text them to get as much support as you can) I was directed to You Tube videos on intermittent fasting and cutting out late night snacking. It's been 18 days since I stopped eating after 7PM and starting again at 8AM. I have lost the weight plus an additional pound. I have regained my confidence (which is very important) and I can see a clearer path to maintaining my health with my weight loss. Gaining weight and not being able to take it off as fast as we once did is very crushing to us on so many levels. It hinders our ability to effectively lose the weight and it returns us to regaining more and giving up. Please don't give up. Many here have given you excellent choices to help you. I fortunately have a great support group of family and friends who I can tap for ideas "outside of the box". One poster here had a 45lb regain and was able to lose it. That in itself is a great motivator. For those of us who have lost our weight loss superpowers, don't despair, learn new tactics, resist old ones that work but never ever give up. Your good health is too important.

I went to Blossom in August for vsg. The treadmill test was not bad. Not a fast speed, but a high incline. You can hold onto the handle bar of the treadmill

I had no appetite at all for two weeks. My cousin, on the other hand, ate a chicken wing before leaving the hospital! There's no hard and fast rule.

@Bwa, congrats! My surgery is scheduled for 10/27. I totally get where you're coming from! I've started doing what I call a "Brain Dump" in my journal. Sometimes the thoughts come so fast and furious its overwhelming. So I just write them as they come. Its not meant to be a coherent entry but a way to get what's swirling around in my head out and onto paper where I can see it. Sometimes I see things I need or want to do and other times its just ramblings of a mad woman. But it helps. At least it helps me. Maybe give it a go!

I don't know what meds you took but 1000-1200 kcal is actually not much. Unless you're really short and tiny that's usually not even the BMR. There is really no standard advice on what or how much to eat or how much to exercise - it's a highly individual thing once the first few weeks are over. If possible, try to talk to a dietician worth her/his money. What to eat depends on personal preferences, intolerances (if there are some), availability and for many people also on environmental concerns and/or ethics/religion. How much to eat depends on how old you are, your gender, your activity level, do you accept starving yourself for a while because you want to lose the weight fast etc. When it comes to exercise it also depends on the individual. What do you like to do? How much time can/do you want to spend with exercise? What are you able to do? These are questions only you will be able to answer.

Are these the only ones you are allowed? I was allowed only specific shakes - I think about 8 choices. The first ones I tried (out of convenience - ensure high protein) made me feel the same way as you. I didn’t want to drink them, I felt nauseated and gross’s I switched it up to the recommended Slim Fast one (also the cheapest) and the only plant based one and it made such a difference!!!