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I had my eye exam today and I was really hoping my prescription would be the same so I could hold off buying new glasses until after I've lost some weight. Unfortunately, based on the blurriness I've been getting when driving, I had a feeling it wouldn't turn out that way, and I was right. It was enough of a change that I couldn't get away with waiting. The whole time I was trying on new frames, I kept asking myself, "What will these look like if my face isn't so round?" It's hard enough choosing glasses as it is!

I used to take that years ago for migraines. I don’t remember losing a bunch of weight when I took it. But it was a long time ago.

I used to take that years ago for migraines. I don’t remember losing a bunch of weight when I took it. But it was a long time ago.

I've been home for a few hours now. I passed out pretty much as soon as I got home. I'm currently sipping on a Gatorade Zero, and now that I'm out of the hospital I can do a liquid diet instead of just clear liquids. So there's that, at least lol. My biggest problem is water. Doesn't matter if lukewarm or cold, straight water makes my stomach cramp. But because I am able to consume other liquids just fine, they went ahead and sent me home. The water thing is just something I'm going to have to keep working on. My other big issue was my body did the opposite of that they expected it to do in regards to my blood sugars. AKA, every time they tested, I was in the 200-300 range when they were expecting me to go down post-op. So I came home with rapid-acting insulin on a sliding scale. Hopefully soon we can discontinue that. For those of you asking about recipes, my doctor has me use the Baritastic app for my logging and tracking. It does have recipes on there as well, if you are looking to spice things up in the land of boredom. Now time to catch up on posts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl - Amazing that they had you drink Gatorade 2 hours prior to arriving for surgery. I had to drink mine the night before, and absolutely nothing by mouth after midnight. It's wild to me how different doctors prefer their things to happen. As for taking the shots, I'm sure you are going to rock it. I struggled with the idea of giving myself shots, but over the years it just became another thing for me to put on my calendar to remind me to take. Your question about how long to wait between trying new things, my doctor said I could not try anything new on the same day. So if I tried something and it seemed to work, that would be my thing that day. Then the next day, I would keep that for the first meal, and then as long as it still agreed, I would try something new for the 2nd meal. Maybe that helps you out some? Thank you again for the recipe/website. The site has been bookmarked for me. So the straw thing is for life, it sounds like? At least based on your experience. Chewing your eggs to liquid is still really good. My nutritionist said that every bite I take from now on needs to be the consistency of applesauce before I swallow it. And that chewing even beyond that would be great. But you're rocking it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt - Thank you for the idea of mixing things in. I guess I've been scared to do that because I didn't know if it was allowed or not. How do you like the Orgain powder? I use the Owyn premade shakes and Vega powder. They sent you home same day?!?! Holy crap, and I mean that in the best way possible lol. My doctor and nutritionist vehemently told me no straws. Apparently because you can actually suck up air as well as the liquid if you use a straw. I just don't know if that is forever, or just in the post-op period. But my stomach cramped drinking straight water no matter what temperature. However, I did exceptionally well with ice chips - letting them melt in my mouth and then trickle down with a swallow. That didn't affect me at all, so maybe see if you can get some ice chips from Sonic or something similar to maybe give you an idea of how much a 'sip' is? Another suggestion I got from my nutritionist as well as people who my husband work with that have had the RYGB is to buy shot glasses for your water. It should take you about 10-15 minutes to finish a shot glass of water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @AndreaJD - Thank you for the well wishes! Water was a struggle, but I was up walking on my own the next day. So I feel like I was doing pretty good for myself! I get to start my full liquid stage today now that I'm home. But man, I can't stay awake enough to do much of anything. Hospitals and rest do not go in the same sentence, unless it's discussing negative rest. (My care team was absolutely great though, so I very much appreciate all they were doing for me even if it meant not getting nearly enough sleep.) This will be an experimental phase for me as I have to find dairy free options to make my life easier. But even if I had to literally water down yogurt, that would be better than the chicken broth I had in the hospital. lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses - I have a bunch of staples as well, and have never experienced them before. So thank you for that explanation. Hopefully when I get mine out at the 10 day post-op, I'll be able to at least tolerate it now that I've kind of been forewarned. And yay, WrA peeps! Honestly we probably did cross paths, but in the early days of RP for me I was stupidly shy. For your chair question - I noticed sitting in any chair for longer than an hour bothers me currently. Which they didn't like in the hospital, because they wanted me in the chair for two hours at a time. And I just... could not do it. It ached too much. Even being home now, sitting in chairs I've sat in previously, I have about an hour long time span before it starts to ache. I take that as my sign to get up and move around. Dry mouth is a problem in particular for me. I still try to sipsipsip but I hate the feeling of dry mouth. And that's made worse by the fact that I'm a diabetic. And yes, I was thrilled (/s) to find out I was starting my period. Thank God for mesh panties and pads they had on hand. They assured me this happened quite often, but it still annoyed me to no end (especially when I'm on multiple birth controls to prevent having said periods due to endometriosis). As for poor executive function, I have that in spades as well. I had to come off my Adderall a couple of days prior to surgery because you know, they want me to go to sleep during anesthesia and not be on stimulants. And hoooo boy did that make the problem that much worse. If it wasn't for my poor husband, pretty sure I would have lost my head and left it laying somewhere. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Onemealplan - Did your doctor allow ice cream for the puree foods? That's kind of awesome. I don't have recommendations for that stage yet as the earliest I will get to it is 8/28 after my post-op appointment. I do remember a recipe back from one of my diet days (Weight Watchers, maybe? I don't remember) that I think might be helpful. You take a helping of ricotta, mix it with Splenda (or whatever sugar alternative you prefer), and some cocoa powder that has no added sugar. Makes it a friendly chocolate treat. I can't give exact measurements on it because I played with it some to get the consistency I liked at the time. I also don't think I could handle the pureed proteins lol. I'll be saving those for when I get to the final stage. I can survive on tuna for a while, especially when I'm having protein shakes alongside it. They gave me a walking goal of 4 laps per 12 hour shift. i was doing those just fine, and when they finally let me walk on my own I extended how long a lap was. But I could not pass gas until they started giving me what is essentially children's Gas-x. And even now, I only pass gass within the 2-3 hours after I've had it. So thankful they sent me home with some. As for in the hospital, the only options i had was water, chicken broth, ice chips, and no sugar added hot chocolate when I specifically asked for it. They brought in 10oz bottles of Dasani water, and it would take me 12 hours to get through one of those due to the cramping. But everything else went down fine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Rob Nissam - Thank you for that explanation. My left shoulder was hurting the most over the last day, and they said it was the gas pain. It was the thing that made sure I did not skip any pain medicine, because I was almost in tears over it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, I think I got through all the posts and everyone. If I missed someone, I am really sorry. For those of you in recover, I pray the pain lessens and the intake gets better daily. For those of you who are still waiting on surgery, YOU GOT THIS! I'll be praying for a safe and healthy surgery for you, and that your recovery process is simply fantastic. ❤️

Calculators are a way to get a good general idea of how much you should weigh based on height, sex and age, What it doesn't do is take into account bodyfat percentages or muscle mass. But gives you a generalized weight reference to go by. Ideal Weight Calculator A better determinate is bodyfat measurement. My bariatric team weighs me using a bodyfat scale. Between the two types of formulas, it should give you a good idea where you need to be. I only ever had one goal because I knew before I ever gained weight what I should weigh so 150 has always been it. But the number to me isn't as important than being in a healthy range and no longer considered obese. So it's subject to change. GL @earthshrimp and congrats on your weight loss so far!!

I weigh more than you so that's not relevant, but I had the DS surgery 3 weeks ago. You want to talk about rewiring your intestines for weight loss?? Yeah, did that. I had a moment of panic after the surgery when it really truly hit me that I'd permanently altered my body and couldn't predict how it would look 30 years down the road. And then I internally slapped myself and reminded myself that how my life was looking pre-surgery in 30 years was death or disability even worse than what I have now, and that NO ONE can say what their life is going to look like in the next 30 years, or even in the next year. Life doesn't work that way. Nothing comes with guarantees. I was very afraid of the complications a DS can have. But I decided complications from diabetes and high blood pressure and high cholesterol were worse. You may not have these now but you may very well have them in the next 10 years. I was perfectly fine until I was 37. I have had no major complications so far, just some nausea. My tastebuds have changed and it turns out avocado no longer tastes good to me and I can't taste sweet spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. I'm told that will balance out in time, its the hormones playing with my tastebuds like a pregnant woman. For two weeks my stomach did these twisty cartwheels inside me every time I drank or ate something, but that eased too, as I knew it would. I had family and friends rather skeptical of doing this surgery, especially because I am that 1% person who always gets the rare complications from things. But turns out so far I've had a rather boring recovery and I hope that continues to be the case, but if it doesn't, I'll deal with it. Because I no longer want to live the yo-yo life of trying desperately to normalize my weight on my own. I have lost 21 lbs in 3 weeks post surgery! I didn't think this would work for me but it is working... Yes, for the first few weeks getting that water in feels like a huge chore. But eventually you find your groove... Same with protein. And as my dietician reminded me today, they are GOALS, not absolutes that have to be perfect on the first day. I couldn't get down protein drinks for the first two weeks. In the end you will do what is right for you at this time. If you don't do the surgery now you will do it later down the road and be one of the people who wishes they'd done it sooner. I wish I'd known about this option in my 20s, I would have lived a very different life.

Hey Alex! I’m so glad you took the steps towards a healthier life at 31. I have been struggling with weight for my whole life. I have raised two kids, limited with things I could do with them. Ji feel days I have robbed them of memories that we could have made together. Now here I am at 55 and I ,reading your post, feel everything you’re feeling. I now have two grandchildren and the first time I took them to the fair and I was not able to go on the rides with them. It was a flashback to not being able to do things with my kids. So I took the leap too. My surgery is 12/27. sorry got sidetracked, yes the liquid diet is hard. Don’t be so hard on yourself for a slip of having a piece of cheese. The important part is you didn’t binge! That slip up is in the past. What you do today is what is important. Start over. I have taken a new thought on food. Everything I ate yesterday is done. My choices and decisions today is what is important. Find something to keep you busy. If you feel like “slipping “ take a walk then come back. Take a drink of water, shake, or make a smoothie. I have downloaded some mind games that take a lot of thinking. I will sit and play the game and before I know it time has past and it is either meal time or bedtime. I am focusing on the restrictions are only for 8 weeks. Two pre and 4-6 post. I keep reminding my self it is 8 weeks out of the 8+years I have to enjoy my new life! sorry for rambling. Wishing you the best with your surgery

My vision doesn't go white with the hypoglycemia. I get severe brain fog, shaking, heart racing and sweating. Unfortunately, it has a tendency to sneak up on me. If I don't eat every 2 hours - whether I'm hungry or not - I'll end end up crashing. They want me to stick to 60g of protein per day. My nutritionist wants me to stay away from protein shakes, but I do drink them on occasion. They help get something into me quickly, when my blood sugar drops. I'd say I probably drink one a week. I'm having an issue with my diaphragm that is keeping me from doing any exercise that works my core. We're working on fixing that, now. Once I'm able to start lifting weights, my protein intake won't be as much of a problem. It's so weird how different doctors have such wildly different plans.

since we cant edit our original post, i added my 6 month weight as a reply. Hope that works

most people with bypass don't have complications- and of those who do, they are usually minor and correctable (or in the case of dumping, preventable). Major complications with bypass are pretty rare. only about 30% of bypass patients dump. I never have, and neither do most of the other bypass patients I know. For those who do dump, it can usually be prevented by not eating a bunch of sugar or fat at one sitting (which none of us should be doing *anyway*). I threw up occasionally the first few weeks after surgery when I ate too much, too fast, or something that my stomach wasn't going to tolerate, but now I throw up about as often as I did pre-surgery - that is, very rarely. And as for food intolerances, most of those are temporary, but some can become permanent. But you'll figure out what your body will and won't tolerate pretty quickly. re: only eating a couple of bites of food. That's only in the first few weeks after surgery. For the last several years, no one would be able to tell I've had bypass surgery by watching me eat. They'd just assume I'm a "light eater", like many of my women friends who've never been obese. When I go to restaurants, if I'm not that hungry, I'll order something like an appetizer, soup, or a salad. If I AM hungry, I'll order an entree, eat half of it, and box up the rest to take home. Most of my women friends do the same thing. you're probably seeing more issues with bypass for two reasons: 1) it's a much, much more common surgery than SADI. As in a LOT more people have bypass than SADI, so of course you'll see more on it. 2). after people get over the first few weeks (which can be tough with either surgery), they usually only post when they're having some issue, because they're looking for advice or support. People who've never had issues (which would include most of us) aren't likely to post that everything is hunky-dory. as far as which to choose, they're both good surgeries. Advantage of SADI is it's a stronger surgery, and you'll likely lose more weight with it. Disadvantage is regular doctors (as opposed to bariatric surgeons) know a lot more about bypass than they do about SADI, so your PCP may not be able to help you if you have issues - they may have to refer you to a bariatric specialist (which, of course, is fine - but just something to keep in mind). Also, if you have GERD, bypass is usually the better choice, since it tends to improve GERD, if not outright cures it. SADI involves a sleeved stomach, which can cause GERD in some people (or make it worse if they already had GERD before surgery). It doesn't happen to everyone, but it IS a risk... good luck with your decision!

If you don't find the info you want then here goes ... Slider foods are all the good stuff. Chocolate, ice-cream, cream cakes, biscuits, sweets and crisps. All high calorie and really easy to eat lots and lots of. If you ate these all day for a week then you will gain. For some reason these foods do not fill the stomach up. 50 grams of protein, meat, chicken, will fill me up but I managed to scoff a whole 100 gram, M&S cream and apple turnover and it did not touch the sides, had there been another, I might have been very tempted. I don't have bad stuff in the house normally but it happens

Do not go by the fitbit, I used to have one and it counts your resting metabolic rate, meaning the 3k calories its showing you burned include your breathing and your bodily functions not your calories burned by exercise. It also will randomly record an exercise or activity if you move your hand too much etc. I was advised by my dietician to increase my carb and protein since I was doing HIIT or strength training 4-5 times a week, so now I try to do 80g of protein with a shake. I do for carbs sweet potato, quinoa, protein bread or wrap, oatmeal (fiber) and cream of wheat. I tend to weight more or less the same when I train hard since there is water retention for muscle repair, so make sure you are drinking above the recommended 64oz to avoid this. It also helps to look at your weight total per month, not by week or weigh in when you are training, and to start taking your measurements to help see how your body is changing.

I think in my case it was due to my insurance requirements. I have Medicaid, so they have very specific demands. I had to have six meetings with my surgeon's nurse practitioner and the bariatric dietitian. I ended having many many more than that, since it's been nearly 2 years since I started. And I had to get all the medical clearances and psych eval and everything. I have only met my surgeon once, but I will have another meeting with her 6 days before my surgery. I didn't have to lose any weight either, but like you, I couldn't gain any weight. But I did gain weight, plus the dietitian required me to be 3 months binge-free before approving me, so it took a lot of extra time. But looking back, I think I needed that time to really figure myself out (with the help of my counselor)! So I feel more confident going into it now.

I had my surgery July 4th and the good news is that I am down 60lbs but the bad news is that I ended up between July 3rd and Nov 1st spending 12.5 weeks in hospital with complications following the surgery. I had pancreatitis and then also got infections as the surgery didn't completely close my stomach so I ended up with a small hole. Ended up having a number of gastroscopes, tubes fitted to my stomach and back to drain the infection and now have an internal tube fitted in my stomach, which will eventually (I hope) make its own way out as my stomach heals. Had really bad reflux until about two weeks ago when I started taking tablets with simeticone so it has eased considerably. Still in pain often, feels like my stomach is either bruised or pulled muscles. It is great to have lost the weight, especially as the hospital had me on feeding tubes with nutrients etc., but at the present time I feel like I would not recommend this surgery to anyone unless it was life or death. I lost the last few months of my life basically and know that the trauma is effecting me, can't sleep much (partly due to the pain and partly due to not being able to shift the hours the nurses would wake me), feel exhausted and also feel a bit weepy at times.

Just remember you must must protein & water fluids thru ,water will sit if you stop drinking it & body will retain fluid just switch up your drink routine. Constantly doing same regimen & constantly eating same things you can get stuck in weight loss.. don’t stress it take some aloe Vera capsules to help with your bowel movements also , I started taking 2 first time & now 1 daily since my system change 10 1/2 yrs ago when my surgery took place..

I had my surgery several years ago, but we were told not to count calories, either - just to make sure we were hitting our protein and fluid requirements. that said, I ate around 800 calories/day from about 3-8 months out. Then I was up around 1000 until around the year mark - and maybe 1200 or so after that. Once I hit my goal, I experimented for awhile to figure out what I needed to eat to maintain my weight. That's around 1600 calories for me, unless I'm doing a lot of heavy exercising.

My surgery date was October 4th. I had gastric bypass surgery. My liquid diet started on September 20th. My weight loss journey started August 3rd at 266lbs. Surgery day I was 236lbs. Today, 2 weeks post op, I weighed in a 224lbs.

just wanted to add that strength training doesn't burn many calories (although it's great for your muscles!). Cardio does burn calories, but you have to do a lot of it to really torch them. At my current weight, it takes about an hour of fairly intense cardio (biking, Zumba) for me to burn just 300 calories (although I agree with the others that the calorie counters and machines as well as fitness "watches" are really just estimates)

I am preop and was just reading through the folder my surgeon's office has given me. There's a section called keeping the weight off where they talk about portions after you've gotten past the honeymoon period. They say that a meal should be 3-4 oz of lean protein with 20-25g protein, 1/2 cup of whole grain or starchy vegetables, and then half of the plate is leafy/non-starchy veg and fruit. The most important part for me was where they said: Sometimes portion sizes increase over time. If you feel you are able to eat more at meals, increase the portion of non-starchy vegetables. I would start there, because I think the tendency as appetite increases is to grab a bigger plate and increase everything proportionally. So now you may be eating 5-6 oz protein and 3/4 to 1 cup of starch or grain. And maybe adding in more sauces, more fats, a piece of bread, some alcohol, juice, some sweet treats, a daily snack. My surgeon's plan emphasizes keeping to 3 meals per day without snacking once you're past the first few weeks where you need to supplement with protein shakes just to meet minimum protein goals. But if you can regularly get 20-25g protein at a meal, plus 1/2 cup starch or grain and some veg/fruit, you don't need to eat more than 3 times per day, 4-6 hours apart. This is something that isn't always made clear. When I started this journey, I was certain that gastric bypass would mean having to eat lots of small meals all throughout the day, which is exactly what I'm being told not to do! But you do need to get at least 64oz of water or more all the time, and you can add as much veg and fruit as you need to feel full. I think that is where I would start in your position. Go back to measuring your meals, setting timers to remind you when your meal times are if you need to, eating only food you prepare yourself and/or know exactly what's in it. Check your cupboards for temptations and get rid of them. Pay attention to the urges you have to do something that isn't part of your plan, because that's probably going to show you the problem areas and help you figure out how to change. And most of all, give yourself a little bit of grace, because this isn't easy (no matter what people try to say). Take care of yourself. Get enough sleep. Get fresh air and exercise. Be kind to yourself.

That's wonderful Jill! You are already in Onederland! I hope the rest of this process continues to go well for you and it is a straight shot to your goal weight!

Or not lying about my weight on my license

We all carry our weight in different places: upper body, lower body, abdomen, etc. And we all lose our weight in different places as we progress. Add to that the differences in our skeletal frames. Like I’ve a smallish frame yet my collar bones don’t protrude as much as others at a similar weight to me. I have dips around my collar bones not hollows. You will find that once your weight stabilises that your remaining weight seems to resettle. So while you may feel you look too thin or gaunt at first this will change. Initially I was all straight up & down & had lost my hourglass shape. But a few months later I realised I had a waist & hips again. (Still don’t have a butt though lol!) Give your head a chance to catch up with your new body. How you look now & as you lose more weight. It takes time & you’ll feel like you don’t recognise yourself or know your body at times. And it can work both ways - thinking you look too thin or thinking you’re still too big. I remember seeing a woman’s reflection in a shop window & thought oh we’re wearing the same clothes & she’s much slimmer than me. It was a shock to realise the woman was me.

I haven't seen any posts in a while -- how is everyone doing? I had a sleeve on 10/9, lost 19 pounds really fast, then at 2 weeks, hit a stall that lasted about 3-1/2 weeks. It was very frustrating and I felt like I had messed something up or done something wrong. I wondered if this was not going to work for me and yet I was permanently stuck with a tiny stomach. I hated seeing all the social media posts of all the people who seemed to be continuously losing weight every week while I stalled -- even though I knew not to compare my journey to other people. But even during that long stall, I had to stop wearing a bunch of clothes that were too big, I moved my Apple watch to a tighter setting on my wrist, I was able to stop taking all blood pressure and diabetes meds because my levels were all normal or low, and I even completed a 5K (walking it mostly but still!!)!!! My doctor told me not to worry about the scale -- that "it would catch up." So I just didn't weigh for a while, though I stayed the path on eating, water, protein, and movement. Well, today I got on the scale and have now lost 31 pounds since my surgery. The scale is catching up. What a relief! I'm sure that I'll stall again at some point, and I'll be in a better mindset to just stay consistent and keep with the program and have faith.

I'm the same height as you, and I sit at 149. I look thin, for sure, but not skeleton-like. I think we get so used to being obese that "normal" weight seems weird. What looks emaciated to us is, in fact, normal weight. 135 might be too thin, but I think getting into the "healthy" BMI zone is entirely reasonable.

Corinneblooms, I'm 2 weeks post-op today and yesterday my back started hurting -- mid back pain, which I've never had before. I went to the gym a couple of days ago and did the TINIEST number of arm/ shoulder/ back exercises with the TINIEST of weights, but one rep of each left me completely worn out and I left! I've been telling myself that I pulled something or did something, but maybe it's just the post-op thing!