Search the Community

I have been on 6 meals a day from day one. Usually about two of these meals are something like a protein shake or yoghurt. I think for Bariatric patients about 5 to 6 meals a day is the most common around where I live. I personally love it. I eat every two to three hours and therefore are never really hungry. Also I wonder how people get their protein and calories in on only three meals a day. I’m 14 weeks out and eating 800-900 kcal a day (85g protein). I don’t know how I would be able to get in in only three meals?! Also I read that your body can only process about 20-30 grams of protein at a time, so I like to spread it out throughout the day. Just make sure you’re committing to the meals and don’t start grazing.

Some people only have to do two days of liquids so I’m guessing they will still do your surgery but I would be asking myself some questions. Are you really truly ready for the surgery. I passed my psyc evaluation when I shouldn’t have and I have been racing the clock in therapy trying to get a handle on my emotional and boredom eating before it’s too late. I didn’t realize I ate when board or emotionally until post surgery and the psyc didn’t ask enough questions in my opinion to discover it. Anyways, I am not saying you shouldn’t do the surgery but you possibly could benefit from talking to a bariatric therapist. Your hunger hormones should be gone post surgery but head hunger will still be an issue if you suffer from disordered eating which only you can know. I am doing it (therapy and weight loss phase) simultaneously and I have almost lost all my weight but I was a smaller BMI to start so I can afford to lose it slower than some people. (Meaning the weight should still all be off before the honeymoon phase is over for me even with the slower loss). I know once I made up my mind to do the surgery i did not want to push it back for anything. I wanted it sooner. I am just sharing my experience cause I think this has also been a harder road for me than if I completed the therapy before surgery.

Foamies, I was told when I was in the hospital foamy's is actually throwing up even though after bariatric surgery (rueny) you can't actually throw up (I was told) . And ask for sugar-free items keep those very very limited as you know how bad most sugary placements they use in products are so bad for your gut

And a quick note, you might not be on Bariatric vitamins forever depending on your surgery and eating habits. I am a bit over a year out from a sleeve and my MD took me off the bariatric vitamins because some of my levels were too high. I take a Kirkland signature multivitamin, b complex, and vitamin d pill every day. My one year labs came back perfect. I also eat a good variety of food including fruit, vegetables, etc. if I encountered some kind of issue where I was wasting away I’d just eat more calorically dense food more often. Unfortunately it appears that my body is plenty capable of using its calories so to maintain my healthy bmi I still have to be conscious of what I’m eating.

If it’s true hunger check out @lizonaplane ‘s posts. She worked through this with her program. The other option is you are still learning your hunger/satisfaction signals. Notice I didn’t say full. Satisfied is the sensation we are aiming for. It’s ok to be empty. You can be empty in your stomach and that may be the new sensation. You won’t die of being empty. You may find it clarifies your thoughts and allows you to move easier. Each person experiences hunger and satisfied differently. Speak to your team and go to the follow up support meetings, ask the bariatric psychologist.

Most people can eat nearly anything, albeit in small quantities, after healing. As an example, I'm just short of three months out. I had a long road trip yesterday, on roads that do not go through many towns (in six hours I went through three places with ANY population at all—Nevada is a very remote place). One town had a McDonald's. I had most of a Chicken McDeadlet kid's meal with milk (drank the milk later). Another one literally only had a pizza place. I had half a slice of pizza. I survived. You learn to prioritize protein and let the rest happen as it can (vegetables next, then starches). Bariatric multivitamins aren't actually much different that regular multivitamins; they may be in more easily digestible forms, but most patients don't need that after a few months out. Iron, B12, and calcium are the usual things we need more than others, and those are not so hard to find (and you can get them from food if you truly need to).

Ugh, so sorry this is happening. My sleeve surgery got cancelled back in March 2020, but I was able to get it in July 2020. If I hadn’t had potential heart issues, I would have gone to Mexico for the surgery. There are several fine bariatric centers over the border.

I am going to lose my mind. I've waited all year for surgery. Not just bariatric, but 2 additional procedures that must be done to prevent further serious problems. They have cancelled and rescheduled my surgery 3 times already. Anyone in the US knows insurance starts over (usually) on Jan. 1, and now, one week away from surgery, they just called me to let me know they may cancel me again, just 16 days from year's end. I have not been able to get a job, go on vacays, see family, or celebrate the holidays, all because I've been "on call" for this surgery. In fact, I was supposed to have a much lesser surgical procedure done elsewhere that could easily have been accomplished as far back as last summer, but this bari program doesn't commit to, and isn't accountable for, any obligations or schedule. This is ruining my entire life, and if they cancel again, I don't think I will be able to get it done. They've already charged over $40K in gross charges without one iota of actual health care to improve any medical condition whatsoever. It's all been unnecessary procedures, tests, appointments, etc. I'm wondering how other people can get health care at the drop of a hat, especially if they're in the hospital because they have not gotten a Covid vaccine, but the rest of us, who are personally paying the entire year thousands and thousands of dollars for insurance premiums and copays and coinsurance and deductibles in order to guarantee medical access, are denied. Spoiler: It's us idiots responsible enough to have insurance that are keeping the medical world afloat. I'm just waiting for the class action lawsuits to start. If this isn't discrimination, I don't know what is. In the US, we literally have governors and mayors calling the shots as opposed to medical experts. It's all political. Since when in the free world do janky politicians decide who gets care and who does not? I am utterly disgusted.

Funny you posted this. I agree with you. I literally just got off the phone with my team's nurse and said the same thing. She said we can't use suppositories because they're laxatives. They only allow stool softeners. How crazy is this whole bariatric thing when every single team wants to do something different. This can't be science.

Hello all, To anyone that lives in South Carolina, I'm looking for any insurance plans that cover bariatric surgery. From the research that I've done, I haven't found any that do. I don't qualify for any Medicaid plans, so I'm not sure what my options are at this point besides either paying out of pocket (which is a last resort possibility) or going outside the country. Any help regarding finding any insurance plan that could cover bariatric surgery or a way to get my current healthcare provider (BCBS South Carolina) to somehow cover my surgery is appreciated. Thank you.

You have a metabolic disease. It has a safe, well-studied cure - bariatric surgery. Go have your surgery. Live your life, dear. You deserve it. (And if you need someone to call your pastor's wife to tell her to mind her own business, we are thousands of voices strong enough to speak out for those who cannot). You've got this!

Could I add, there is nothing wrong with having bariatric surgery for cosmetic reasons. Most of us have multiple reasons for doing the surgery because we are complex creatures.

What now? Now that’s the big question. Weight-wise, I’m going to find stabilization and probably put on the 5-10 bounce-back pounds. That’s fine. I’m still seeing a bariatric therapist, and I know to reach out – to friends, family, therapist, work – at signs of trouble. I know I take on too much work, and that’s a problematic pattern I’m still working on. I know I need to find and keep finding ways to truly love myself, because that’s the key to saying no, doing things for me, prioritizing myself. I am excited for where I am, and apprehensive about the next year. This journey has been magical through-and-through, but the compliments will stop, and this will be normal life again. What then? I’ll keep finding out, and I’ll live by the mottos I taught myself to believe when getting my mind in the right place: I have a right to be here. And I can forgive myself for anything. Even regain. Even falling into binge eating. Even losing my job. Even ending up single and lonely. I can forgive myself for anything, and that means I’m not scared of anything. Heck, for me it hopefully means I can face anything and deal with it before it becomes a problem. That’s the most important thing for Year 2. Love to all of you, thanks to each and every one of you for sharing your life with people like me, and keep being awesome!

What I wish they had told me prior to surgery I honestly had no idea how much pain I would be in right after waking up. And due to COVID-19, I wasn’t allowed anyone in the hospital to help me tell the nurses to seriously give me more morphine. I had about half an hour when I seriously wanted to kill myself due to being inflated from surgery and nowhere near covered by pain meds. Yep. It won’t feel like it, but you should get up as soon as you can. I mean that seriously. It lowered my pain from 10 to high 8 immediately. I’ve done rough contact sports, I’ve had my knee cap dislocated, torn my ACL, had a ruptured appendix, broken more bones than I care to count. And nothing compared to this. Other people have barely any pain. And you know what? I do it all again in a heartbeat. The results are that great. Otherwise, I felt pretty well-informed. I called the bariatric team when 1400 cals clearly weren’t enough, and once they heard my loss at that point, they were like ‘yeah you should’ve been on 1800 a month ago, then’. So reach out, they’re there for you. I had some stalls but expected them, talked to my close people about it, and reminded myself not to stress about it. I had a month or so of low blood sugar, but it fixed itself. I get constipated from iron supplements, so I’m actually managing without now that I can eat more (my iron increased from surgery to month 9, which is pretty neat).

My diet and calories – stages + what does a typical day look like after a year? My post-op plan was pretty standard: 1 week of fluids 1 week of puréed 1 week of soft solids and then gradually into solids. It was easy, but I had reached out for help prior to surgery and had family take care of me. I could’ve done it on my own, but I do recommend letting all pride go and simply take as much time off work as you can, ask for all and any help you can from the people around you. You have no idea how willing people are to help. That first month is so crucial to get off to a great start – it’s a long journey – and we deserve it. I had alcohol less than a month after surgery (for NYE) and it was fine. It was OK’ed with my surgeon’s team. I understand this is different for different cultures, but alcohol is a major part of life where I live, and I am done doing unsustainable things. So I had to practice flexible control right off the bat. It works well for me. For me, tracking calories and protein has been crucial I was on: 1400 cals/day for 6 months, then 1800 cals a day for 3 months and then the bariatric team asked me to stop losing and find my balance. Since then, I’ve lost 7-8 lbs as I’m finding my equilibrium. I stopped tracking on weekends, and I still track on weekdays. It’s good to keep that sense of what 2000-2200 calories look like, but it’s also a more long-term sustainable solution for me to not sit at a restaurant and think about whether I go 50 over or under on a Friday. This gets into the mental game, and I’ll cover that below. A typical day now looks like this: Breakfast Protein Oatmeal (around 200 cals) Lunch Meat + mixed salad + a little dressing at work. Small plate. Early afternoon A protein snack, like Quest Protein Chips. Late afternoon Usually some fruit, a slice of protein bread with low-fat cheese. Dinner I’ve grown fond of Thai curries with chicken + cauliflower rice. I truly have no desire for, say, burgers and pizza – it’s too heavy for my system. I repeat: it’s not that I can’t have it, I just don’t really want to. New times indeed. Evening snack(s) I tend to leave 400-600 calories for after dinner (which is easier on 2200 calories, mind you). I unfortunately work a bunch, and this has been the problem in the past – working and snacking all night long. I spend those calories on a smoothie with protein and fruit, and usually a bariatric-friendly treat like sugar-free chocolate, popsicles, or something like that. This keeps the habit of stuffing myself with empty calories somewhat at bay, while also not setting me up for failure by pretending I can go from 7pm to bedtime at 1am without eating. I can’t, so I don’t.

My journey to weight loss surgery We all have our journeys, and I love to talk about mine. I’m not ashamed in the slightest over having a hard-to-work-with metabolism in a world that isn’t made for us. It messed me up, but here I am taking back my life. I’ll keep it fairly brief here, though: I was a chubby kid, had some years in a normal weight range, dieted all the time, yo-yo weight, started working a stressful job and eventually fell into a full-on eating disorder (BED). After receiving treatment for this, I was ready for bariatric surgery, and studied my options intensively. I initially ruled out the sleeve due to the regain rates + GERD. I then wanted RNY because of its ‘tested and verified’ legacy but landed on the MGB for the superior possibility for weight loss, higher chance of keeping the weight off, and for how easy it is to revise or reverse if the need arises later. I have not regretted my choice for a second ever since.

The surgery: what is it, how does it work, what does science say about weight loss and complications with MGB? What is it? There’s nothing ‘mini’ about the MGB. The name was given by Dr. Rutledge who invented it in 1997 to describe its simpler configuration compared to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Basically, the stomach is divided and a long, narrow pouch is created (a little like the sleeve), but the rest of the stomach is left in place (like with RNY). A loop of the small intestine is then connected to the pouch, and that’s it. There’s one connection point – one anastomosis – and unlike the sleeve, the food travels directly down into the intestine, as the pyloric valve is bypassed. The bypass is anywhere from 150cm – 350cm (3 to 9 feet), though recently most surgeons do 150cm to avoid malnutrition later on. Here’s a diagram: How does it work? As with all bariatric surgery, there are things we know and things we don’t know. We obviously feel full faster due to the smaller stomach, but because it’s ‘open’ in the bottom to the intestine, and this anastomosis is not especially narrow, we can usually eat pretty large amounts fairly soon after surgery. My personal experience is that I’ve only felt I ‘had no more room’ a few times, and always with minced meat, weirdly enough. The big trick is that you feel satisfied very quickly, because the food lands undigested pretty far down the intestine. It’s like the feeling after a huge Christmas dinner. Technically, I could eat more, but I feel stuffed (and satisfied). So I don’t. We have at least 3-4x the malabsorption of RNY, so there’s some calories being flushed right out. Personally, I can see when I eat a higher-fat meal that some of it goes through undigested (sorry for theTMI). How much do you lose? Unlike what people think, there are tons of studies out there documenting that weight loss is generally greater after MGB than after sleeve and RNY. Not a single study out there shows less weight loss with MGB when comparing MGB and RNY. Excess Weight Loss (EWL) ranges from mid-60s % EWL to the 80s after one year (a few studies show even higher WL, but those are generally from cohorts of fairly low-BMI study populations). All-in-all, weight loss is excellent and looks like it’s long-term durable in the studies. Especially when compared to the sleeve. Complications? For some reason, there’s a ‘feeling’ among American bariatric surgeons that MGB carries a higher risk of stomach cancer. This is not true, and it has been studied. A few patients experience bile reflux, but this is a lesser concern with the Spanish ‘anti-reflux stitch’ most MGB surgeons now use. Mine did as well, and while I suffered heavily from GERD prior to surgery, this is no longer a problem. Long-term, malnutrition is an issue, so take your vitamins. Think of vitamins as being generally a good idea for sleevers, mandatory in the beginning for RNY’ers and then see how your labs develop as the years pass, to very important for MGB, also long-term, and life-or-death for our duodenal switch friends. This reflects the malabsorption – none in sleeve, a little in RNY, a moderate-to-significant amount in MGB, and a lot in DS.

I had my surgery in Mexico. It was literally the best health care experience I've ever had. I researched the hell out of it and chose an excellent doctor and hospital. The doctor was trained and certified in the US, and had excellent success rates. If it's a quality hospital and up-to-date surgeon, they use the same medical practices as they do in the US. But because labor is so much cheaper there, the nurses hover over you and take such good care of you. I did have one issue when I had an allergic reaction to a medication and we had trouble explaining what was going on to the nurse, but then they went and got one of the doctors that spoke better english. I'm absolutely sure that your friend has your best interests at heart. But she may not be well informed about this subject. Lots of people think bariatric surgery is a bad idea no matter who you are and where you do it. My mom was definitely worried when I told her I wanted to do it. But she talked to my sister-in-law, who is an endocrinologist, and told her "oh yeah, bariatric surgery works, it will add 10 years to her life." And surgery in Mexico sure sounds shady. But there's crappy surgeons in the US too. No matter where you are getting surgery, you should research the hell out of it and choose someone who you trust. My mom was nervous about it, but she also went with me and helped me communicate. I was very happy to have her along since you often feel pretty bad right afterwards. There's nothing wrong with re-evaluating your plan and making sure you're comfortable with your choices. But there's basically a 100% chance that someone who loves and cares about you will think its the wrong decision. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. In the end, it's your choice, not theirs. You're the one who is living in your body, you're the one who knows best what you need, and you're the one who looked into this and got the information and made the decision. That's how it should be.

Oh yes, I was ravenous until I got on semi-solid food like eggs and cottage cheese. Personally, I attributed that to getting more protein. I really did not like the taste of protein shakes, and even though I was choking them down, I don't think I was getting as much protein as my body needed. But also, solid food makes you feel more "full" than fluids, no matter what their nutritional content. Studies of gastric emptying show that fluids leave your stomach much faster than solids, even if they have the same calories. (Water goes through your stomach even quicker than liquid food.) Once you start eating solid food, the fact that your stomach is smaller will really start fully working. Bariatric surgery doesn't just work because you can't eat as much. It also changes your hormones. Ghrelin is called the "hunger hormone" and your stomach makes it when it is empty. You make less of it after bariatric surgery because you have a smaller stomach. But you also make less of it when your stomach spends more time feeling full.

Just don't take your Calcium citrate with your daily vitamins. If you are prescribed 1500 mg Calcium citrate, it should be taken 500 mg at a time. I take m daily vitamins (Bariatric Pal One-a-Day) in the morning, and my Calcium citrate at lunch, mid-afternoon, and at supper. I have my vitamins & supplements in a basket on my vanity so I see them when I brush my teeth and get ready for the day, so morning works for me. However, I think you could reverse the order with no harm.

Inspiring! I do aquatic cardio workouts 5 hours a week now pre-surgery. As soon as I'm cleared post-surgery for weight lifting, I'm going to get a personal trainer at the YMCA and begin strength training. My bariatric clinic includes sessions with a personal trainer, but the affiliated gym is 75 miles away so the local YMCA is where I'll go. I think that shrinking my excess skin is probably hopeless, but I'm going to do as much as I can before considering plastic surgery.

Amy, why not just bite the bullet and learn how to cook? For the sake of your own health and that of your also overweight husband... Many recipes are very simple. My brother insisted he couldn't cook until he was retired and how he's producing beautifully plated simple gourmet meals. It can be done! Here is one more cookbook which may be less daunting than the others I suggested (not that those recipes were terribly difficult either): The Easy 5-Ingredient Bariatric Cookbook, "100 post surgery recipes for lifelong health", by Megan Wolf. Most of the recipes can be made in 15-20 minutes. Both you and your husband can eat the same meals; you don't have to fix separate things for him. It wouldn't hurt to engage him in the cooking process, too!

200 oz of fluids is insane. That can't be good for you. Most bariatric clinics ask you to drink 48-64 oz per day, which includes your shakes and bullion. Did they tell you to drink that much? If not, take tiny sips to swirl around your mouth for your cotton mouth, rather than gulping down more water. Are you simply not pooping or do you feel like there is feces that you are utable to pass? You don't have much fiber in your diet while on the liquid diet so you may not need to poop as often. Miralax, Senocot, Milk of Magnesia, and Colase are other products that help with constipation. Have you consulted with your clinic about this?

That's a very good point, I never thought about a stall! It could well be that indeed. I will see my loss next week and if it isn't anything brilliant I will inform my bariatric team that I successfully did the 2 week period but didn't have a big loss. I suspect the actual pre-surgery one will be more liquids than solid meals, so that might have more of a success. I have downloaded a UK-based calorie counter to make my life a bit easier so I can track things better too. Fingers crossed! Honestly thank you so much, I find it hard to lose weight because of my PCOS so I should give myself more credit than I do. Congrats on your 36 pounds! I hope you hit that target weight! X

Hi @xKirstenx , I was loosing weight with “normal” food, not shakes before the pre-op diet. I lost 73lb, 33 kg. I lost nothing during the pre-op diet! So, don’t beat yourself up about the shake stage. Talk with your dietitian. We found the shakes had too much carb for me. That’s just me. I agree with gabbykittyvsg about protein. My usual real food, before and after surgery consists of 60-90 grams of protein per day. I suggest checking in with your bariatric center to review your personal nutrition plan because each person has a different protein/carb/fat goal based upon your gender, height, and build. And congratulations on your big loosing successes!