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People will whine about though how 98% of the recipes are not "bariatric friendly", lol. 😂

a lot of people have had WLS in their 60s. There are a few here on Bariatric Pal, in fact..

Hi! I’m new on here but I have a question. I had my sleeve done January 2020 and was very happy with my results and so glad I did it. I have lost 135 lbs and want to loose another 20-30 lbs more. Now being out 15 months I have developed heart burn, acidic reflux which at times is horrible. I have had heart burn in the passed but infrequently. The GI doctor has done an endoscopy and took biopsies plus stretched me as pills and food were getting stuck in my throat. Now I have this horrible pain after I eat anything like chicken, pork, fish and red meats. I don’t cook with spices, onion, or garlic. The doctor has given me different meds but nothing has worked. Right now I’m on Protonic 40 mg 2 times daily and Pepcid at night. I had an abdominal ultrasound which they found no gallstones but an minimally enlarged spleen. By the way had my gallbladder was removed 37 yrs ago. I was told by her nurse practitioner that the next step is to have a revision. Is this correct? Is there anything the GI doctor or Bariatric surgeon can do before this? Can anyone tell me about the revision? Does it hurt worse than the sleeve? Everything is basically the same as the sleeve except of course the surgery itself? Thanks in advance.

Hi Ladidi and welcome! It is not uncommon at all for 60+ folks to have bariatric surgery! I was sleeved last year at age 67. No adverse events, and I had a successful recovery. Go for it!

Thinking hard about getting bariatric surgery but I’m 67 years old and worried I’m too old. Had lap band unsuccessfully in 2008. Just wanna feel good about myself again. Has anyone had surgery over 65 years old.

I feel like you need a dietitian for our specific bariatric surgery need. I’m only 4 weeks out and I can’t fathom getting in that much protein. Especially with you having previous liver issues. Too much protein can also shut down the kidneys. I would seek a second opinion for sure.

I am having my VSG at Blossom Bariatrics in Las Vegas. The surgery is outpatient. I have a visit before and then hydration IV the day after Then I fly home

Hi Tracyringo, My Bariatric Dietitian did warn me against eating cream of wheat, oatmeal and other cereals. When I was on the soft food eating plan after my VGS, I was able to eat my favourite cream of wheat and other soft cereals. As I am in the soft food eating plan for the RYGB when I saw the dietary restrictions about the cream of wheat, I had no idea why my Bariatric dietitian would restrict the grains, like cream of wheat and oatmeal. Your post to me about staying clear of cream of wheat really enlightened me. As I previous VGS person, I didn’t have to deal with dumping syndrome. On the RYGB, I might have to deal with dumping syndrome. Some other members of BariatricPal forum have indicated that around 30% of individuals who have gotten the RYGB have to deal with dumping syndrome. I have no idea as I progress with my post op dietary eating plan, if I will have to deal with dumping syndrome. I will most certainly follow my Bariatric dietitian recommendations about staying clear of grains like cream of wheat cereal and oatmeal. Thanks for your enlightening post, Tracyringo.

Short version: I'm 45 yo, 6'3", 275. Pre-surgery eight years ago, I was about 440. Weight has plateaued for the last 15 months, whether I eat well or carelessly. A dietitian has recommended that I need significantly more calories and protein than I've been getting, but I'm having a very difficult time getting close to her recommendations though I'm constantly eating throughout the day, while still stopping when I start to get full. Having a very hard time exercising because of debilitating back pain. My questions: 1) What's your opinion on the dietitian's recommendations of 2,700 cal and 220g of protein per day? 2) How do you all (especially guys) get enough calories and protein given our small stomachs? 3) Are there any good resources for long-term post-sleeve eating plans? All I can seem to find on here and elsewhere are focused on the weeks and months after surgery. Long version/background: I'm 7.5 years post-gastric sleeve, and am currently at 275 lbs., close to my lowest post-surgery weight of 267. (I'm 45 years old and 6'3", with, my doctors and massage therapists tell me, a very large, wide frame.) In the nine months to a year after my surgery, I got down to 285, then plateaued there for a while. I have spent most of my time since between 290 and 305, once getting up to 330. In 2017, I nearly died from a massive, undiagnosed liver infection, and after my three-week hospital stay, I was down to 267. I was back up to 310 in Jan. 2019, and since then a year-long progress to 270, and I've been between 270-280 for the last 15 months or so. During those 15 months, I have had a couple of months-long periods of being very careful and planned, logging food and staying under 2,200 calories and over 100g of protein per day. I have also had a couple of extended stretches of not being as careful eating—consuming more junk calories, but being pretty consistent not over-eating and stopping when I'm full. I was confused as to why my weight stayed the same no matter what I did, so I consulted a regular dietitian, someone who is not focused on bariatric patients, but who has worked with several before me. Her opinion was that I wasn't getting enough calories, that I should be aiming for 2,700 calories per day, with macros of 220g protein, 200g carbs, and 110g fats. I have tried doing this, but am finding it very, very difficult to hit those marks. To get even close while stopping when I start to get full, it seems like I am eating all day long every couple of hours. (One more note: I have been getting little to no exercise mainly because of debilitating back pain (from degenerative disc disease and arthritis) that just keeps getting worse and does not respond to any medications or treatments. Hydrocodone, which I'm not taking currently, does nothing, I feel zero effects from it, like they were placebos. Nerve ablation made it worse, and one highly respected back surgeon says all I can do is lose weight.)

Headed home pain is just from gas no site pain was able to get a lot more fluids in. My program has a weight loss app called Bariatrics. I was able to set up 15 min reminders to drink something this is very helpful since time goes by so fast and you need to stay hydrated I haven’t mastered how to reply on my phone but Thank you everyone for the support

that's one of the main reasons I've stayed active on bariatric sites. It keeps my head in the game.

I recall feeling the exact same at that stage! Felt very despondent that I had gone through surgery and it hadn’t seemed to help, I was convinced at one point the surgeons had just made incisions and forgotten to actually do the operation!! I carried on with my eating programme and as the days went on I learned to discern head hungry from tummy hungry, I actually found that when I told my head to get over itself as I wasn’t hungry it really worked!!! At around 14 days I was allowed to start on very soft, mushy baby food type things and this is when things started to change. I keep carbs to below 30g a day and eat lots (well, as much as Bariatric surgery allows...) of healthy, real protein like chicken and fish which were blended with a bit of low fat Mayo, ff yoghurt and some little spices coupled with veg like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and butternut (2 veg per dinner) and my hunger definitely changed. I eat the above type meals twice a day with a protein shake daily to keep me topped up. I’m on soft, real foods now and I still stick with the above meal layouts and I am not finding too many issues with being hungry. Oh, almost forgot that keeping water up in between was super important. When I get bored of water I would mix some low cal juice concentrate with the water which works a treat getting fluid in. Keeping a check on the carbs (less than 30g) and good, real protein (between 50-70g) seems to be working for me right now and keeping my calories between 550-700cal pd without the starving to death feeling. Good luck 😊

I found one in “the complete bariatric cookbook and meal plan” Chocolate pudding protein pops One 3.9 OZ Package of chocolate flavored instant pudding 2 cups cold low fat milk 2 scoops chocolate protein powder I haven’t made it yet but I am going to try a chocolate protein shake and the pudding mix!

I talked to my Surgeon about this hunger issue yesterday at my one-week post-op appt. He said with the DS there is "more stomach" than the other surgeries, so its not unusual to be hungry. He wanted to make sure it was not the pyloric valve (stomach to the duodenum) that was inflamed and making it feel like hunger. I have had no other issues and have easily been able to meet hydration and protein goals. He let me go ahead and add a small amount of plain Greek yogurt, applesauce, and cottage cheese to my full liquid diet. I also started in drinking several glasses of hot green tea with stevia (helps). Just an FYI, but I would suggest asking your Dr if your hunger is really feeling like an issue. He also recommended some gas x, and Devrom (sold on bariatric pal), as it seems I'm somewhat sensitive to all the whey protein...if you know what I mean.

None here but left the bariatric pal facebook group as it was full of toxic people who loved to enable each other eating like crap and call anyone who said differently the "food police" while inevitably they would post a few months later whining about stalls or regain. People were cheering people on eating cake at a few weeks post op because "it's a soft food". There were posts like that constantly. Maybe it's changed since I left but that's not a great support group for making better food choices.

Bariatric vitamins are loaded with lots of nutrients, so you do need to coat your stomach prior to taking them. I personally can’t stomach mine whether I have food or not. I tried to take my multivitamin with iron and I threw it back up. I actually can’t stomach food or water currently so hopefully this will pass. I hope things have gotten easier for you.

I haven’t been able to find any info on this but I am curious where soft protein bars (Built bars in particular because of the macros) fit in a Bariatric diet? Would these be able to be added in for the soft foods phase, or are they considered an after on the “regular” diet? These have a soft consistency, no chunks, and 5G of sugar or less so I’d like to add them in. Just not sure where.

Well I think that when people reach out for help from regain, they're looking for advice from others that experienced regain and what worked for them. Obviously not every approach works for every person but MANY here have found great success conquering their regain. For me, when I had regain and saw my bariatric team, they told me all the things that I knew they would say- do a post opt diet, go back to protein shakes, portion control, etc. A health issue required me to achieve nutritional ketosis and that's actually what helped me lose all of my regain and more. I conquered the health issue and lost my regain and have maintained over 5 yrs.

Had to quote this ^^^ because my cell bio studying butt REALLY appreciated the shoutout to the metabolic processes!! Long: Just to add. Quite a few peoples nutritionists, surgeons and PA’s programs are VLCDs. Atleast for the first 6 months. Mine doesn’t have me going over 1100 til June. I have a biology degree with a chem minor, so I truly get nutrition stuff. However... If it’s recommended by the team, who am I to say no, you’re wrong, I need to be eating more... To a surgeon who’s been doing bariatric surgeries since they were invented, and a nutritionist with a masters in dietetics from Vanderbilt... I get where you’re coming from, I really do. And I think you’re coming from a very sincere and concerned place. But from a purely scientific standpoint we are all different. And we cannot be treated as a one size fits all. There are people with diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, mental illness, etc. who go through these surgeries and lifestyle changes. All of those pts need to be mapped out differently based on THEM and their past medical history and their familial history. Our metabolic rates, our sugars, body fat, all the stuff that people want a “baseline” for, really don’t have a true baseline. Because it’s not one size fits all. It’s never a one size fits all. What might help you lose weight might make me gain it. What is too much body fat on you might be too little on me. If it’s going lower on Cals and carbs to lose or jumpstart, I don’t see that as such a negative thing like you’re portraying. You don’t have to restrict to something absurd like 500 cals, but dropping your daily calories by a few hundred for a short period of time is proven to be a huge factor in re-jumpstarting your weight loss. There’s a distinct difference between starving yourself and not eating a lot. I was a dx disordered eater when I was a teenager. I know what not eating is. And (I’m gonna use me as an example but I know there are plenty more, but want to only speak for myself) the 750-900 calories I’m getting a day is a heck of a lot more helpful and nourishing than a single low fat string cheese wrapped in a piece of ham and one blue Gatorade per day for 2.5 years. And I am eating 750+ calories of sustainable, clean, organic veggies and lean meats/seafoods with no additives or anything fake—very sustainable over time. Was being anorexic healthy? Absolutely not. Not advocating for that but rather in the opposite direction. You need to eat, but the devil is in the details with each pt and not in the broad “calorie range” scope. I see a very big difference in starving yourself and not eating much because of that previous experience. Just my .02$... Like I said, I really enjoyed the post, I just have a hard time even thinking about telling my doctors and team they’re wrong with giving me the diet they have me on, when this is the plan that’s been laid out for me, and many others as well. And they’re professionals. I mean, I paid almost $28K for this surgery (thanks no insurance and 4 days in the hospital), I’ve got to be able to trust that what my team is doing is to help and not harm me. And that they wouldn’t put me on a plan that will ruin my metabolism and make me unable to lose properly and gain back ridiculously. And that’s where these posts get harmful. Because they can have people doubting the road they’re on. I know for a fact it freaked me out good and well. We are all on the same, but separate journeys. I have to remind myself of that daily. You’re a good person Creekimp and very very knowledgeable. I honestly learn something new every time you post. I hope you dont take this as hostility but rather as an open dialogue as you are a vet; and I’m 2 mos post op with a medical profession and bio degree so I only know what I know from that. I promise I’m not being contentious but I know online tone and inflection aren’t always picked up and seen!! Also, how do you force yourself to eat that much in a day. I eat 6 “meals” a day and have to literally force myself to eat to almost misery each time to meet my goals. Do I need to add more fat or something to increase the caloric value of my food?!

First off, let me say that you should always listen to your doctor and nutritionist...rather than crazy people on the internet, myself included. But here's my rant today. And for what it's worth....this is just MY feelings on this nonsense. I'm no expert. Ya'll need to eat. Not overeat. But also NOT UNDER-EAT. Eat healthy food you enjoy. I know how it happens. Your weight loss gets sluggish and stuck and you think OMG, this isn't working, I'm Failing at this! You start to panic. And what does a lifelong self-destructive dieter DO when they start to panic? They go exteme. They go...ok, my doctor said it was ok to eat this much.....so I'm gonna try to eat HALF of that to speed up my weight loss! I'm going to work harder than anyone! I'm going to eat less! I'm going to force this weight off of my body...because this is my last chance and I'm freaking out and I can't fail at this, so I NEED to do better and cut back! Only, here's the thing. You don't need to cut back. You need to stay the course, nourish your healing body, have good energy to boost your metabolism and lose weight sensibly. Why do people do VLCDs? (very low calorie diets....1000 or less calories a day)....they do them because they show results in a hurry. And there is nothing people like better than a lower number on the scale...regardless of how they're achieving it. Or how harmfully they are achieving it. When you eat less than 1000 calories a day, did you know you lose more muscle than fat...even if you are eating tons of protien grams? When you lose muscle, you slow your metabolism, endanger your organs that have muscle (heart anyone?), and decrease your bone density. None of this is a good idea. And when you're eating starvation level calories, your body tries like hell to keep you from dying....by, you guessed it, slowing your metabolism even further. And the carb thing...can we talk about that a minute? You DO want to avoid carbs that are metabolized to sugar really fast, like sugary foods and refined white flour items because they can cause your pancrease to over-react and send too much insulin and you'll end up with rebound hunger....but other carbs, particularly ones that have good fiber content to slow the sugar can also have good protien content...and they don't do the rebound hunger thing. They give you great available energy. Why do we lose so much weight so rapidly when we do keto? We don't really....but the first five pounds is so quick and shocking that it MUST work! (except you're not losing fat, you're losing the water that your liver stores extra glucose in.....and you've stripped your liver of its emergency reserve of energy. And yeah...you can make the sugar you need from other things through gluconeogenesis....but it takes amino acids that your body is typically harvesting from your muscles.) Don't do that thing where you lose the five pounds eating keto....then eat a few carbs and go OMG, look at the weight I've gained!....and go keto again and lose the same five pounds of water. It's an illusion. (Not saying keto people can't lose weight...they do lose weight fast...but they also have about five pounds in lost water from glucose storage, no emergency stores, and their bodies may be consuming their muscles) Food for thought (literally!) Guess what organ runs exclusively on sugar? Pure glucose. Your brain. Your brain burns over 300 calories of glucose every day. At just 2% of our body weight....our brains burn about 20% of the calories we use each day! The CPU needs fuel. Lots of people lose weight rapidly with Very Low Calorie Diets after bariatric surgery. They have these amazing results that other people notice and are in awe of. They lose to goal eating very little and feel very accomplished about their self discipline and their amazing fast results. And then guess what happens? At goal...they are still people who have never learned how to eat sustainably for life. All they know is starvation and self deprivation. And starvation doesn't work long term. Please learn to eat sustainable amounts of calories. Do it early so you don't fudge your metabolism into starvation level calorie requirements. One of the best ways to have a robust metabolism...is to do exercise every day. It doesn't have to be the gym or something you find tedious. Do things you enjoy....but keep moving. It's hard to build your robust metabolism.....when you're too tired to do anything but go to work and go to bed...because you're starving yourself. Please eat. Don't overeat. But eat. Learn to eat right, not starve. Starving is not the cure and in many cases sets the stage for significant regain. Do it right, even it it's slower than other people. Do it sustainably. Learn to coexist with food, not avoid it. (easier said than done) Don't get discouraged by small losses. Just keep losing to goal with small sensible tweeks. You don't have to suffer extremes to have success. Learning to control your diet moderately...is the best skill to have when facing a lifetime of sustaining a significant weight loss. This end my rant. Totally ok if you think I'm nuts/wrong/whatever. Take what you like and leave the rest. Peace and best wishes to everyone on this crazy road.

Most of the veteran posts, lets face it.... are "Help, I've regained!" And the response I see over and over and over and over is... "Go back to basics...starve yourself at 1000 calories a day (or less)...start drinking protien shakes....do keto...blah blah blah" I don't mean to criticize heartfelt advice...and I know some of ya'll are genuinely trying to help. But why in the world would you tell someone to do the same thing over again....that didn't work the first time? It seems nuts to me. My two cents: see a bariatric therapist. Stop the self punishment. Stop the self sabotage. Stop the self harming extremes. Get down to the real reasons you're addicted to food, what you're medicating with it...and work on fixing those issues. If you do....making slow reasonable changes to your diet that have slow but steady results....will work. You don't have to starve. You don't have to do very low calorie diets that hurt your metabolism, your bone density, and your muscle mass. You don't have to be so freaking EXTREME. Breathe. Make reasonable changes you can live with for a lifetime. No crash diets. They don't work. You know this. How many years experience do you have KNOWING that this approach doesn't work? Stop running from the real issues.

What works for me, is this.......if I go up five pounds, I need to see the bariatric therapist. It's the deal I've made with myself, and it works. I very very seldom go up five pounds, but each time I do... I schedule an appointment, have a good talk about the triggers I'm dealing with....and get things straightened out before it gets worse. I cannot say enough positive things about using the bariatric therapist as another good tool. Best wishes to all.

Oh I see! With that additional information, things are very much broken. My best advice would be to seek a therapist, preferably one that has experience treating bariatric patients or people with eating disorders. This state of affairs is unsustainable and won't end well.

So yesterday I was given a tentative surgery date of May 19th. That's the day unless insurance drags it's feet or Covid changes things. So in preparation I have been going over my nutrition packet again and see that they say the first 3 months AFTER surgery ALL vitamins/minerals/etc. need to be chewable. So under the "Sleeve Gastrectomy" they have the following things listed that need to be taken and their recommendations/suggestions: Multivitamin - 2 tablets Bariatric Advantage Chewable Essential Multivitamin Bariatric Advantage Multi Chewy Bite Centrum Chewable Flintstones Complete Chewable OR Mutlivitamin - 4 tablets Bariatric Fusion Complete Chewable Multivitamin Now, further into the booklet it speaks about taking ONLY Vitamin B12 and B1 for each of the following stages: clear liquids (1 day), full liquids (14 days), and puree (7 days). On the soft foods (14 days) stage in then says to START the Multivitamin listed on page 6 & 7 (which I listed above). So on one hand it says take a chewable multivitamin right after surgery for three months and but then it says to basically NOT start it until 14-ish days out. So which is it? I also notice that it says under the soft foods stage, where you start taking the multivitamin, that it DOES NOT also list the vitamin B12 and B1. So, does that mean I only need those for the first two weeks/those stages as listed above and that's it? And finally............. 1. Of those vitamins listed above, which would you recommend I choose or do you recommend another kind? 2. Since it says the chewables have to be taken for 3 months, which vitamins did you then switch to AFTER the chewable stage? 3. I am anemic, should I automatically keep taking my iron pill (by crushing it or trying to find a chewable) or no since it's not listed? 4. Is there such a thing as a chewable B12 and B1? I never had to look for such things. Should I go ahead and buy these vitamins now or should I wait until my pre-operative class and/or my final surgeon visit to get clarification? Just trying to get all my stuff bought and gathered beforehand and not have to wait until last minute. Thanks so much!!!

I'm an introvert with few friends but in my smallish 15-person department at work, three people have had bariatric surgeries within the last two years so I get a lot of support/guidance there. My one close personal friend is also very supportive, as are my three adult children. My two siblings, both of whom are bigger than me, are the voices of doom and gloom and tell me I'm making a big mistake. I think it's just because they aren't brave enough to do something about their own situations.