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I bought Bariatric fusion. I haven’t started on them my surgery is this Monday but my nutritionist gave me samples. Not the best in taste but they will do for now.

I saw someone else responded with Bariatric Fusion Complete Chewable. You do have to take four a day but they have all that you need for the sleeve. It was also a very cost effective choice.

Bariatric Fusion chewable. If you are getting the sleeve, it's the only vitamin you have to take. They are only sold online. The berry flavor is pretty good! Sent from my SM-G970U using BariatricPal mobile app

I don't know. In 2015 I was self pay as my company insurance didn't cover bariatric surgery. I'm now retired and the ACA plan I have also doesn't cover anything related to bariatric surgery so if GERD was a side effect of the first surgery they wouldn't likely cover it. I think they will cover the hernia repair but not the bypass, so there might be some partial coverage.

Welcome to our bariatric community. Take a tour around the forums and you'll find many helpful threads and answers to a lot of the questions you might have. We share our experiences here and learn a lot from one another. Wow, you two did it together, huh? That's pretty neat.

Lizonaplane is exactly right. You are being asked to do something nearly impossible within that time frame. A1C lowers over a 2-3 month period. But very high A1C's (e.g., 10) will lower faster when treatment is provided. Postponing may seem very disappointing but it would give you a chance to drop to an acceptable A1C by being extremely strict with your diet, exercising, and taking any medication prescribed to you. The only other possible option (and maybe not a great one) is to consult with an endocrinologist about whether the endocrinologist believes you could safely undergo the procedure with your current A1C. But he or she would have to consult with and get the approval of your bariatric surgeon for this.

I was sleeved in September of 2015. Weight loss was moderately successful with some regain. High weight was 300, surgery weight 277, got down to 210 and I'm currently at 233. Goal was 185. I have had some issues with GERD like others. Recently though my hiatal hernia has worsened and I am only able to eat very small amounts of food at any given meal. It seems like I'm back to eating like I did 6-8 weeks after my initial surgery. I reached out to my bariatric surgeon and have scheduled an EGD for next week. From what his PA told me if they do a hernia repair they will want to do a revision to RNY at the same time. He said they do this in most all cases. I was also told that their practice (a high volume bariatric surgery facility) does 80-90% RNY these days with very few sleeves. I've noticed that my type 2 diabetes was initially resolved by the sleeve surgery but my A1C has crept back up to 6.0 and my fasting glucose teeters right around 100. I wonder if the revision will resolve the metabolic issues as well as perhaps helping me lose another 20 pounds or so. Does anyone have any insight into the reasoning behind doing the revision with the hernia repair?

I always thought 20 was the LOW end of healthy BMI, with 25 being the top end of "normal". But also, BMI is seriously flawed, because it doesn't take into account our muscle mass, which should be high for many/most bariatric patients because we needed more muscle in our legs to hold us up. Unless you lose a lot during weight loss. It was the psychologist who talked about expected weight loss with me, not the surgeon. She said, "here is what we think is what we predict you will weigh after this. Will you be okay with that?" I was not okay with that! But, it is just an average. Now that I am about 6 pounds from what she said, I realize that if my body tones up a bit, I would be okay - not thrilled - with it. Remember, if you have to struggle every day to keep your "perfect" weight, you will likely not be happy. This is going to be a life-long battle, and you can't spend all of your energy every minute focused on it

This sounds a ton like COVID, but it could be a lot of other things, including symptoms of malnutrition, which is always a concern for those of us with highly malabsorptive procedures (MGB, DS etc.) I'd reach out for a doctor pretty much now, and do beware many doctors don't take bariatric patients' concerns seriously. Then try another or push as hard as you can. It's not normal to feel like this, and the literature on MGB doesn't describe adverse effects like this in general. Edit: COVID manifests in the GI tract for 21% of the infected (with delta, though). I am pretty sure we're more at risk for that due to the lack of a natural acidic environment that a normal stomach has.

I don't think this point can be stated enough! My bariatric therapist said to me when I was talking about the idea of what 'perfect' looks like that the strive for perfect is the same mental prison as being a morbidly obese, socially isolated, overeater was. And that clicked with me. My journey to BMI 50 started by not listening to my body, ignoring hunger, and talking down to myself.

Hello and welcome. I see you already have a bariatric therapist which would have been my advice. I struggle with boredom eating and I am still trying to find a good therapist in my area to help with this. I’m losing but it’s more of a struggle than it would be without disordered eating issues (I assume). I have found bariatric pal to be a wonderful source Of support and hope you will too.

Yes I’m seeing a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and bariatric patients. I have been seeing her since before the surgery. She’s the one who recommended I join this group. Thanks for the welcome.

Welcome & congratulations on your surgery. Never be afraid to ask for help. This process is not always easy. Many hiccups & roadblocks along the way as we work through the crap that lead us to being overweight. We don’t talk about the importance of doing the head work for nothing 🙂 Were you recommended a therapist as part or your pre surgery program? If not ask your team for a recommendation to someone who specialise in eating disorders & bariatric patients. You may find working with a therapist about your cravings & night eating very helpful. There are many people on this forum who have benefitted from working through their food obsessions etc. with therapy to understand what’s drinking them to eat & finding strategies to manage those drives. Good luck & congratulations on your weight loss so far. It’s just the beginning.

Ahhh Pita and rice may work up the calories. I have been avoiding grains cuz they seem too heavy. But now that I am almost done with month 2, I may give it a shot. BTW, brown rice or white rice? Can't do chicken and all cuz vegetarian but would love a falafel in a pita (ofc bariatric version of falafel) 😂 Your carb content isn't almost double your protein. So seems like I shouldn't be worried getting more carbs in. With beans and lentils, carbs do overshoot, but without them there won't be much variation in my diet. My fats are around similar number, usually less than 30gram.

I’m on day 5 post op. Everything seems to be going pretty well. My Dr has moved me to phase 2 eating, creamy soups, yogurts ith fruit flavor no pieces of fruit. Also soft boiled egg To go along with my protein shakes. I started my bariatric vitamins B12 dissolveable tablet, Calcium Citrate 1000mg chewable(not so great) and a multi that looks like a starburst candy!!!! So far I have been walking abouT 1.5-2 miles each morning( not today 12in snow) I find it easier to drink while on my walk rather than sitting down. I have to say that I am not hungry at all. I know I have to eat which I am doing getting in 60-80g protein and 64 oz liquids. It’s just weird that I’m not looking to graze in the fridge!!!! Also I am keeping a food journal, times and how much and protein taken in and am also using Baritastic app to track weight and goals and food as well. Might be a little over kill the journal but for now I seem to like it. Just wanted to share my first week with everyone because I’m proud of the work I’m doing!!!!

I used a personal trainer at a gym 10 years ago, the last time I got close to the weight I am now. Of course, that was before I had surgery. I don't remember for sure, but a probably did 2 or 3 dozen sessions. It definitely made me feel better. I've been thinking about doing it again. As I near the supposedly ideal BMI of 25, I notice that my legs and especially my arms are looking pretty scrawny. I also have some wrinkly skin on my arms and legs that could really benefit from adding back some muscle mass. (Of course, at 68, I'm a certified Old Guy, so maybe the wrinkles are par for the course, but they weren't there when I was bulked up with fat. ) And though I look good in clothes, I still have a couple fat places that could really look a lot better when I'm standing shirtless in front of the mirror to shave. What I've been wondering is whether I need to find somebody who has experience with bariatric surgery patients, and if so, how to find such a person whom I could afford.

I had a gastroscopy yesterday 27th January 2022, with my bariatric surgeon. I have been experiencing awful acid reflux, regain, lack of fullness and occasionally vomiting. He informed me I have candy cane syndrome. Which means there there is a part of the anomostosis which goes from the pouch to the intestine which basically shouldn't be there. It's filling with food and causing too much acid. Also the hole from the pouch that connects to this anomostosis is too big. Letting food through too fast. My pouch is 6cm which he said was good but had stetched a little. I had my RNY 21 years ago and this is apparently rare. But I'm sure in those who had surgery that long ago may well have it and not know. So have to have it rejected. Surgery planned for 17.2.22. I would hope you get your surgeon to take a look, he knows what he's looking for. I've had a couple of gastroscopys via the NHS and they said nothing was wrong!

not only is it acidic, it's carbonated. Not a good choice at less than a month out. You're still healing. Plus transfer addiction is unfortunately a real thing - some people develop issues with alcohol after bariatric surgery. So I'd be careful. we were told to wait a year after surgery to indulge - some people are told six months. Some may not have to wait as long, but 3.5 weeks is way too early.

Yesterday was my first appointment at Ridgeview Bariatric Center. I met with a nurse first and then the surgeon. I can’t believe I got to meet with the surgeon on the first appointment. Is that normal? The surgeon was really impressive, informative and encouraging. I left with a binder loaded with all the information I need (pre-op plan and checklist, surgery overview, post-op plans for diet and exercise with log charts, meal plans, recipes and more). They did blood work before I left. I drove home feeling so happy and hopeful (I might have shed a few tears). Today the nurse called me to schedule appointments with a dietician, psychologist and exercise physiologist. I don’t want to get too excited because I know things can go wrong at any step along the way (with the psych eval, testing and insurance approval). Right now I’m feeling really optimistic.

There is a bariatric one that does the same and made for bariatric patients. I started using mine on the liquid stage and it counted down to surgery day now it counts out how many days since surgery and what I lost the month on liquids preop, what I’ve lost post op plus the combined loss it’s pretty awesome!

I ask myself the same question😭 I had my sleeve 12/22 and at my post op visit 1/18 I'm already in the bariatric plateu. My surgeon said it's normal BUT the thought of doing all this potentially for nothing is heart breaking. I wish you all the luck possible🤗

Hello All, Sometimes it is nice to know that you are in a group of the "world's best" at something. It is my opinion that we are the world's best at losing weight. I do not mean to imply that once we have had bariatric surgery, we are good at losing weight. I am willing to say that, prior to your surgery, you have lost (and gained) tens and tens of pounds over your lifetime. You have tried at least six or more diets and you were probably successful in losing a significant amount weight on each of them. I have done this too. The problem is we are world class weight gainers also ...ugh! Thankfully, we have weight loss surgery to help us eat fewer calories. However, each time we lose weight, we must face the "STALL." You know, that period of time when we don't lose weight even when we think we should. Everyone dreads these time periods. If you are interested, I would like to share with you some information that has helped me over the years to overcome and understand stalls. First, I am not a doctor nor am I offering any sort of medical advice. I am simply trying to provide you with information from my own personal experiences. You are free to believe or not believe. Every single person is different. If you know something that works, please share. I would love to learn from you. Until then, here are my thoughts. Vary your exercise routine. This is pretty simple. One must understand that we come from a long, long line of survivors. Just think, there is a very good probability that several of your ancestors survived the black plague which eliminated almost half of the population of Europe. Over time, our bodies have learned to adapt to new "challenges" so to speak. Here is a secret to assist weight loss: YOU MUST CHALLENGE YOURSELF to avoid your body's natural ability to adapt and become more efficient to your routines. If you are doing any kind of exercise, you will need to vary this exercise every few weeks. For instance, I am currently using an elliptical machine for cardio. Every two weeks, I change my routine. I went from just moving for 30 minutes at any speed for the first two weeks to adding intervals of going as fast as I can for one minute and then slowing down for three minutes. I have also changed the interval times. For example, I went fast for 30 seconds and then slower for two minutes for a period of two weeks. Next week, I will be changing to a stationary bike for cardio. In a few more weeks, I will be heading outdoors for walking/jogging, etc. The point is to change it up so your body must adjust to new challenges. Build muscle. These are the facts. Muscle burns more calories, even while resting, than fat does. Did you know that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson eats more than 5000 calories per day? The man is a beast and definitely is not fat. He is able to eat so much because he has a huge amount of muscle mass. That muscle burns a lot of calories. Check out what he eats in a typical day here: The Rock's Diet. I wish I could say the phrase "build muscle" and, magically, I would build muscle...*sigh* Until then, I must incorporate strength training the old fashioned way. I lift weights. At the moment, my routine consists of body weight type of exercises, pushing and pulling. My goal is to preserve as much muscle as I can while losing weight. I want to burn the maximum amount of calories possible...even while sleeping. YouTube has many, many videos to help just about anyone. Keep track of your food intake. I measure my food and keep a daily log. I know how much food my stomach can hold and I do not over eat. But my personal opinion may be different than yours when it comes to caloric intake. Personally, I cannot live for the long term on 800 calories per day. Many of us were/are eating about 800 calories or so per day after surgery. I have no plans to eat only 800 calories per day for the rest of my life to maintain my goal weight. Therefore, I have increased the number of calories I eat per day. At the moment, I am eating around 1500 calories per day. I am about six weeks post surgery. The bulk of my calories comes from protein. I try to add calories to my day without adding a lot of volume to my stomach. Here are some things I do in order to add calories. Once per day, I drink a protein shake instead of water. Also, I will add the following ingredients to meals throughout the day (not all at the same time, mind you): olive oil, avocados, sour cream, cheese, mayonnaise and peanut butter. These are generally healthy fats which allow me to consume more calories at every meal. I try to eat approximately 400 calories three times a day and then supplement with a few snacks in between meals. I typically eat 5 to 6 times per day. Set realistic goals. If you do not know, one pound of fat is 3500 calories. To lose one pound of fat, you must create a deficit of 500 calories per day for each day of the week...500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories lost. Create a deficit of 1000 calories per day and lose two pounds per week. 1500 calories = 3 lbs. per week. This is the idea...a 500 calorie deficit per day equates to one pound loss per week. A typical male burns about 2000 to 3000 calories per day (typical female: 1600 to 2400.) You can play with these numbers all you like but the reality is: it is very hard to lose a large amount of fat in one week. Last week I lost three pounds. I believe that this result is fantastic. That loss is a 10,500 calorie deficit for the week (equivalent to NOT eating 37.5 Snickers Candy Bars.) I believe this is a heroic effort on my part...I celebrated with a quiet "YES" and a fist pump while standing on my bathroom scale. Fist bumps to all of you who have shared the same win. NOT an exact science. Things change. There is not a perfect formula. When you lose weight, you lose fat AND muscle. This is NOT avoidable. No one is able to lose 100% fat. It is not possible to do so, therefore mentally prepare yourself for some disappointment. If you do not have strength training in your schedule, you will lose more precious fat burning muscle than you would if you incorporate strength training. Either way, you will burn fewer calories per day when you, eventually, weigh less. It makes perfect sense. At 300lbs. you may have burned 2500 calories per day. At 250lbs you may only burn 2200 calories per day. You were bigger so you burned more calories. Therefore, it is harder to create a calorie deficit when you weigh less because you are burning fewer calories. Again, this concept really sucks but it explains why we lose less weight as we get closer and closer to our goal. Okay...so this turned into a much longer post than I originally anticipated. Some of the words above make it sound like I have it all figured out. But alas, no. I have issues too. I gained over 100 lbs. in the last six years eating pizza with extra cheese and trying to diminish the world's supply of beer. I am somewhere in the early stages of this particular weight loss journey. My goal is to make this my last weight loss/gain journey. I truly wish all of you the very best life has to offer. The struggle is real and I know, like me, you are fighting every day. I look forward to all of your comments and learning from your experiences. Best, AnotherGuy

Last night I was made aware of an app called Yuka. Apparently you can scan a barcode of any food and it will tell you whether or not its a good or bad choice. A snip from the app page says............. "Yuka is a free mobile app that allows you to scan the barcodes of food and personal care products and instantly see their impact on your health. A rating and detailed information help you understand the analysis of each product. When a product has a negative impact on your health, Yuka also recommends similar but healthier alternative products." Like I said, I ONLY just found out about it last night and downloaded it. Only scanned a few items in the house here so far. Thankfully they listed as "Excellent" choices. LOL Now, it's not specific to Bariatric Patients but I still think this could come in handy for many of us. Check it out if you want.

I had a lot to lose (175 lbs) but I went with the sleeve anyway. I ended up losing all the weight. Either surgery can be great for you, it’s just a question of what you want and what your surgeon recommends. I liked the “simple” nature of a sleeve, and I knew people who had gotten it and had great results. A bit over a year later I am still happy with it, still maintaining my full loss. I don’t have to take bariatric vitamins anymore, I just take standard vitamins from Costco now. Honestly there are some valid medical reasons for one over the other but if those don’t exist it’s just a matter of preference and both are great surgeries that can be super successful for you.

My gastric sleeve was done 1/22/22. I had a 10 day pre-op liquid diet which was a lot and lonely. My nurse was supposed to call and check on me about half way thru- she never did- nor did she return my voicemails. I also was in a weird schedule shift at work so I worked 8 of the 10 days- which I think was a blessing in disguise since I was busy and not focusing on what I was or wasn’t eating. Due to COVID it was a drop off pick up situation. So my mom dropped me off at 5:20 am. I was in communication with her until my nurse anesthetist came in and they put my phone in my bag. I don’t remember anything after the operating nurse coming in and putting my hair net on me around 7:20 am. The next thing I knew I woke up in recovery with a nurse sitting on either side of me. They were super great- my mouth was very very dry so they let me suck on a sponge. I was also very close to the desk in recovery so I could tell my mom was on the phone with them. I immediately requested my phone from my bag and called my mom. It was about 11:30am and she hadn’t heard from my surgeon- she was not happy. But had a lot of relief hearing from me. The conversation was short as I was still out of it. The nurses also put some Vaseline on my lips since they were super dry. My room wasn’t ready yet so I was able to just relax in recovery for a bit. Lots of naps in and out and some texting with friends. Once my room was ready the wheeled me away from recovery. Once I got to my room I was given goals. -Manage nausea -Manage pain - go to the bathroom -take a sips test -walk around -sit in the chair I didn’t find my self nauseous until they gave me a different pain med via my IV. Luckily I didn’t throw up and they gave me some spearmint patch on my gown which was nice. Pain was managed via IV for the first bit. I really felt like I had to go to the bathroom so the nurse helped me on my feet within about 2 hours of being in my room. No luck on the bathroom- but I found I could get up and move. After that we did my sips test at 1:15 which went really well. After that I got white grape juice watered down and water to sip on. Goal was 5 med cups (2 tablespoons) an hour. After that another nurse came in wanting my to start walking. He helped me into my really comfy pj pants- no open booty walks for me! We did 2 laps around my ward. I ended up in the locked pediatric location so they were a little more lax with me about walking on my own. During this time I also attempted to go to the bathroom a few more times. Finally before 8pm my nurse came in turned the sink on and basically told me to relax and I was in my head about not going. ALAS- it worked- a ton of relief happened from being able to go. That night I walked more- drank more- slept more and prayed I was gonna be able to go home. I swear every time I was falling asleep the nurse aid came in to take my vitals. ☹️ the nurse aid also had no knowledge base in what I had done so when I asked for broth she told me to order… there were no ordering food for sleeve patients. The broth was in the kitchen on the floor so that was a bit of a run around but it all worked out well. The next morning a different bariatric surgeon came in to talk to me- mine didn’t come in on Sundays…. But he was cool and told me I could go home! So I got my paper work and then a nurse came in unhooked my from my IV so I got dressed. My nurse came in gave me a cart and some directions and away I went. I got my meds filled there and then waited for my mom to pick me up. The first day I was home I was very slow moving. Ended up sleeping in a recliner because it hurt too much to get out of bed. Monday and Tuesday went similar- very quiet working on getting liquids in and moving around as much as possible. Today I can get up much easier and moving around a lot more. Since I’ve been home I’ve only taken Tylenol for pain killers- they gave me more but I haven’t felt like the pain was bad enough to use them. Here are my number so far… Starting process- 270.9 Surgery day- 258.6 2 days home- 256.6 So far I’ve lost 14 pounds. I can’t wait to see where I am in a month. I’ll definitely keep posting my journey here. Wish me luck!