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I had sleeve & am just over 4 years out. my weight has been pretty much stable aside from a small gain of a good 2kgs after a medication absorption issue (& lost about half of it when the meds were adjusted). I never was required to measure & track my food intake. I only did it & still do randomly out of my own interest. While portion size is important equally important is calories & you can’t judge or make decisions about one in isolation of the other. The importance of nutritional value goes without saying of course. Generally I say I eat about a recommended portion of most foods & tend to eat predominately low processed food with the exception of some things. As an example I eat about 3-4ozs of protein with a good cup or so of vegetables for dinner. I have a half serve of rolled oats made with milk & blueberries for breakfast. Lunch may be 4 steamed prawn gyoza, a tub of yoghurt, 12 mid sized prawns, 1.5 egg omelette with vegetables, etc. I snack about 4 times a day (to get in additional protein, nutrients & calories). It’s usually some multigrain crackers with labneh or liverwurst if I haven’t made labneh, macadamia nuts, protein bar, string cheese, peanut paste, fruit, beef jerky. I don’t eat dessert, cakes or biscuits (except on very rare occasions), rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, chips, popcorn or other traditional ‘snack’ foods & don’t drink soda. Nor do I eat fast food & very rarely have takeaway (maybe 5 times since my surgery & not through my choice). Don’t really miss them either. Also I still take 30 - 45 minutes to eat a meal. If I eat more quickly, how much I can eat is reduced & I can end up with the foamies. I still aim to eat 60-70g of protein & to get my fluids in every day. I eat about 1500 calories to maintain my weight. I’m 5’3”, have a finer build, am 58 & aren’t really active. If I was taller, weighed more, was more active &/or younger I’d need more calories. Anyway that’s what I do & found works for me. It may not work for you. There is no right or wrong way to eat only what is right for you & allows you to maintain your weight & health, is sustainable & doesn’t limit or restrict the life you want to live. PS - Earlier this year I checked a BMR calculator out of curiosity. Interestingly, it suggested I’d need to consume about 1500 calories to maintain my weight which confirmed I was on the right path.

Hi all, Per my last post, I have been having really bad nausea and vomiting 6 weeks out (dr says I'm part of the "lucky" 10-15% who experience this). I attempted to take my stomach acid pill along with Zoloft prescribed by my psychiatrist. About 30 minutes later, I threw this up. I am now having SEVERE burning pain in my stomach and I don't know what to do. I used to have GERD before the surgery and this doesn't feel like that.. The burning is *mainly* in my stomach, not my chest or esophagus like how it was for GERD (in my experience). I am wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to combat this? I am afraid to take TUMS or any other anti acids as I usually throw those up as well and I am afraid more vomiting will make it even worse. SOS, I am in so much pain.

I had a very dark & smelly bout of diarrhoea in hospital on day 3 which was from old surgical blood. Literally ran out of me as I was walking to the bathroom to pee. No warning at all. As they’re cutting & reconnecting your digestive system there is going to be blood. While they suction away a lot of this blood there will always be some left within your digestive system which you ‘poop’ out. If it persists I’d go back to your surgeon or a medical centre to ensure there’s no lingering bleeding.

Good luck, 3 days isn’t so bad. I start the liquid diet on Thursday for a week. I quit coffee this week in preparation. That has been easier than I thought. Im nervous about the surgery, but know it’s a game-changer in the long run.

Starting my liquid diet tomorrow, and I will be on it for 3 days. Surgery is at 7:30 bright and early on Wednesday morning... Super nervous!

I had gastric bypass. The following has been repeated here enough to be... well... repeated enough here. But since no one researches old posts, here I am... My plan is 3-4 oz protein, 1oz veggies (or other) 3 times per day... Or as much as I can manage before I become full. I never counted calories or much that isn't described in the first sentence of this paragraph. This was my plan Day 1 through current (20+ years post op.) Currently, I'd say I reach 3-4 oz protein 1oz veggies for perhaps 50-60% of meals. The rest are meals where I can't come near my meal goal, I just stop when I max out for the meal. Perhaps 1% of the time, when the meal is exceptionally good and hits all that is good of an exceptional meal, that I might (very much might, because is is uncomfortable) push the envelope. The fact that I don't challenge my limits is why I believe my restriction is in the same place as it was about 3 months post-op. I can't eat much more per meal than I have since I have been 3 months post-op because I have rarely ever pushed the limit. My belief is the more one pushes the limits the larger those limits become. I simply do not push the limits, so I believe they remain narrow. Whether the limits actually exist as I said are perhaps a matter of belief doesn't really matter. My belief has kept me near my goal weight. So what I eat now is not a whole lot different than during the post-op period when I was learning how to eat again. I don't push my limits.

Sure. The sleeve is not a miracle cure. It is a restart. 1. I walk 5 miles a day. Every day. I can’t run. I am a disabled veteran with 6 knee surgeries, so I walk. 2. When I start to feel full, I stop eating 3. I maintain, and have maintained, the diet from my surgery. I don’t do carbs and I drink at least 2 protein shakes a day. No cake, no pie, no pizza, no pasta. No cookies, no donuts , no bread. And I don’t miss it. I have been off it for 11 years. I do eat carbs on Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthday. But, because I have been careful, I get full very quickly.

I had it day 2 or 3 post-op. I stood up and felt the whoosh. A lot of blood running down my legs and a very large clot. My mind was racing. I thought I was hemorrhaging at first, but I tried to remain calm. I remembered reading somewhere about our bodies releasing blood after surgery and also hormonal shifting so I told myself to keep an eye on it and if it continued, I would contact the doctor. It stopped the next day, so I was relieved. I'm not sure what would be considered abnormal, but I'd say if it continues for any length of time, it wouldn't hurt to call your bariatric team. Congrats on your recent surgery and speedy recovery. {{hugs}}

I had RNY but it's probably similar. I don't go by ounces anymore - I just know that it takes about 1600 calories to maintain my current body weight, so I try to stay around there (or under if I want to lose a few pounds). And the above person is right - the number of oz depends on the food. I can easily eat 8 oz of yogurt. But a piece of meat? No way. Maybe 2 or 3 oz. btw - no one would be able to tell now that I've had weight loss surgery. They'd just assume I'm a "light eater", just like lots of my female friends are who've never had a weight problem. I'll go to a restaurant and order a salad or an appetizer. Or I'll get an entree and eat half of it (and box up the rest to take home).

First post ever here and really struggling... My surgery date is 8/15 and I'm starting to have second thoughts. Not so much about having weight loss surgery, but about whether I am in good hands with my current provider. Long story short NOTHING with this bariatric surgeon's group has ever gone to plan. I did the steps to book my initial consult (educational videos, referral from my primary care provider etc.) and scheduled for January on MLK day. I booked this a couple months in advance so that I could take a friend with me to my consult who had MLK day off work (I live in small town MT so there are no local bariatric surgeons to me). I had requested the day off work as it's a 6 hour round trip to the office. The Thursday before my Monday appointment they called to inform me they were closed for the MLK holiday and had just realized this. So I waited another month and had my consult in February. I knew my insurance required me to complete 6 months nutrition visits, so goal was surgery this summer and I was moving forward with this. My pre op was scheduled for 6/28, and they told me when I scheduled my pre op that surgery would then be within 30 days (in the month of July). I was very excited and looking forward to surgery. I had been clear with them in early June that I was not avail for August surgery and they confirmed with my pre op being on 6/28 surgery would be within 30 days of the pre op. A week prior to my pre op they called to tell me their surgery/clinic days were changing and they had to move me to 6/29, again this is not me taking an hour off work but a full day to drive 6 hours to this office. I was frustrated by this, but was able to change my work schedule. At the appointment I was given a 7/18 surgery date, all the paper work listing my surgery date and dates for the phases of my pre op diet and I signed the consent. and I was so thrilled! Then the surgeon comes back in and when I mentioned surgery on 7/18 his reply was "well that's not going to happen" and I was super confused. I guess he normally does 2 cases per surgery date, but the 1st case on 7/18 was a super complex patient and so he refused to do 2 cases that day. This was not communicated to his staff and I left in tears. They told me as I was leaving the appointment that I could have surgery in August, as there were no more July surgery dates available, but they then dropped the bomb on me that the surgeon is no longer doing bariatric surgery after July (which had never once been mentioned to me at all), so my surgery in August would be with the new surgeon moving to Montana from California! This would also mean spending my birthday in the hospital as my birthday is 8/16. I wanted surgery so badly I even was willing to put up with this change in surgery months, a new surgeon I'd never even met and spending my own birthday in the hospital, but when I had asked a month ago through the MyChart patient portal (thus have it in writing) I was told I was 2nd case on 8/15 with an 8:30 arrival. I clarified that I lived 3 hours away and needed to know if it would possible end up being an early arrival so I could make appropriate plans to travel on Monday 8/14. I was told I was all set for an 8:30 arrival so I planned to leave home at 5:30 on surgery morning as I sleep better in my own bed and didn't want to pay for an extra night in a hotel. Now 2 days ago they told me because of my prior diaphragm surgery I need to be 1st case! I don't have a ride/plans for a 6am arrival and am panicking! This has me questioning majorly whether I am in good hands with this team... will my care post op be any better? If this is how I'm being treated pre op what I can I expect going forward? Am I being petty or does all this seem like a HUGE red flag?

September Buddies - 2022 This past year has been great. I am pleased with my weight loss, even though I have been at a stall for quite a while. Need to kick-start this again to get that last 15 pounds gone! My daughter has begun the journey, too. Her sleeve surgery is scheduled for Oct 11, 2023. I hope y'all are doing well! Best wishes and thanks to all for the support we have shared and will continue to do so.

I've been reading posts on this site for months pre-surgery and wish to thank you for all the support you've given to gastric surgery patients. I had gastric bypass done August 3 and other than uncomfortable gas, I've had a great experience. I came home on the 4th. Starting just before discharge I began passing blood clots. Dark purple. Doctors said it's eliminating blood from the surgery. They said it's okay and approved my discharge That makes sense but I don't remember reading about post-op bleeding on any posts. Did anyone else have this? I'm not pale and I have energy. Hopefully it will run it's course soon. Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

The surgery may be science, but the art of eating, post-surgery, isn't one size fits all as I have learned. I had the bypass and a hiatal hernia repair on June 6 and have been expanding my permissible diet within the general guidelines. I find that the hardest thing is the the line between full and over-doing it, particularly with new post surgery foods. I had one instance of "foamies" that caused me great discomfort- I wish I could have puked and gotten it over with; instead, I suffered gastric distress for hours, and eventually fell asleep sitting on the living room couch. You should talk to your nutritionist - sometimes, it seems, it is the food itself; sometimes, perhaps eating too much, too quickly. I'm finding the line between full and overfull to the point of distress to be a pretty fine one and easy to cross. The "frothing/foamies" gave me religion in the sense that I'm more careful about what I put into my gullet, how much and how quickly. This is a significant operation that changes a lot of your physiology- the volume and nature of the food you can accept and the degree to which you can explore new food options (within the guardrails) that don't make you sick. My take, also as a new post op patient, is that you have to take it slowly, be deliberate and work with the surgeons' staff and nutrionist to help you on your way. Nobody said it would be easy, but the rewards start to come pretty quickly. For me, just a little more than a couple months out, I have far more mobility, I'm not focused on the scale but more on my physical capabilities. I go see the surgeon for a follow up next week. My blood work looks pretty good, it has improved already. One other thing: I can still enjoy the sensation of eating good food, but that's subordinate to my main mission to remedy the problems that necessitated the surgery--not just weight loss, but Barrett's. The bypass pretty much eliminated GERD, which was huge. The weight loss is coming a long nicely and I'm deferring to the surgeon's team for advice.

I wouldn’t think it’s all that normal at 3 months out. Sure the odd bout of nausea or feeling a bit off, or some foamies if you eat something too dry, coarse or eat too quickly but full & regular vomiting …no. I’d go back and ask for some testing to be done to work out what’s going on. Being on such a narrow diet & vomiting could mean you’re not getting in all the nutrients & fluids you need. Has your surgeon at least given you some anti nausea meds or something to stop the vomiting?

I have not done well on the preop diet while traveling to move my daughter to college this week. I will let my surgeon know and see if she still wants to keep my surgery date. I’m a revision and she almost didn’t put me in the preop diet. I am back home on Subday and will have 5 full days to follow it without any hiccups. I am worried.

Hi everyone! I had gastric bypass on May 10th. I have lost 60 pounds. I struggle because even this far out ( almost 3 months) I puke a lot which is really discouraging. I’m existing on high protein Greek yogurt, protein shakes, baked and mashed potatoes. I can eat some ground beef. No bread, chicken, eggs and several other things. My surgeon says it’s normal and to just reintroduce foods again later. I do not want to be regretful but sometimes I am. Anyway just being transparent and looking for encouragement. I am happy with the weight loss though. I just don’t want to exist on yogurt the rest of my life. 😌

I didn't notice any skin tightening (I wish, though!), but I do know fat seems to re-distribute during or after weight loss. I looked pretty gaunt (and frankly, kind of awful) when I hit my lowest weight, but I looked a lot better a few months later, even though I hadn't gained any weight (yet...I unfortunately did during year 3, which is common). My face didn't look so drawn anymore and I just looked better - healthier. I think things just kind of moved around. So that might be what's going on with you, too.

Hi! I had my surgery in September last year and have lost 69 pounds, but my weight hasn't budged since February! Its frustrating. The last 3 months, I have been struggling with fatigue and have been sick off and on due to my autoimmune disease, so I haven't had the energy to workout. But somehow, I have been losing inches because I'm fitting into smaller sized clothes. How is this possible? Has anyone had this experience of losing inches, but not weight without working out? And any advice on how to break this plateau is greatly appreciated!

Being only 3 months out, it's hard to deviate from the plan. We did go for some Chinese yesterday and that seemed to satisfy my hunger, but man, I didn't feel well after. Hopefully the right balance will figure itself out soon.

Every person who does the pre op diet in any of its forms will struggle. Its brutal. You are over the worst and you just need to white knuckle the rest of your time to surgery. After surgery, for the first two weeks drinking is a full time job and only a few people manage 'food' So don't worry about the afters. Hang in there, we did it, so you can too

hey everyone! i love reading about everyone’s journey and i hope youre all feeling well today 🩵 it’s been a month since my surgery (july 3) already! i can’t believe it’s gone by so fast. no complaints thankfully everything has been going as smoothly as possible. noticing a little stall now but i’m not mad about it it’s all part of the process. one huge victory for me is i’m finally done with the blood thinner shots !! lol

Okay, I’m going to go down the straight talking path first so be warned. Cheating is cheating. A slip is different. A slip happens once & then you work to ensure you don’t repeat it. It’s understandable & relatable - everyone slips along the way in some way or other. Cheating implies you are doing it repeatedly. Only you know which category you fall into. This is just the beginning. After surgery you have at least 6 more weeks of restricted eating then months of following a eating plan to support your weight loss & your adopting better eating habits. Not everyone loses their appetite & has no interest in eating in the months after surgery. Our battles with eating do continue in some form or frequency even for those who lose their hunger in the beginning. The surgery isn’t a magic cure. It’s just a tool which works best if you put in the work. It isn’t easy but so worth it. When you reach for that chicken, etc., remind yourself why you’re doing this. Also reflect on why you’re reaching for it: a craving, an emotional need so for comfort, are you bored, angry, sad, annoyed, stressed, is it a habit, etc.? Try looking for a distraction. Go for a walk, read, ring a friend, craft, play a game, garden, check social media, etc. Try having a hot drink instead too. These can be useful habits to adopt long term. Now the softer path: Some plans do allow one meal of lean protein & vegetables & two protein shake meals on the pre surgical diet. (Some surgeons have a preferred plan they put all their patients on while others put different patients on different plans based on individual needs & circumstances.) Speak with your team to see if they would be willing for you to follow a modified plan instead of the all shake diet. It doesn’t hurt to ask & they may say yes. You can do this. All the best.

Some people do struggle with eggs. Not sure why just our sensitive tummies I think. They can be quite rich. They also may not have been runny enough for the purée stage. Sometimes we’re (our tummy) just not ready for certain foods even though our plan says they’re okay to eat. Leave them a week or so & then try again. It may take a few attempts for your tummy to be able to tolerate them. You may have similar experiences with their foods too.

I’m on day 3 post op conversion to bypass from sleeve. Best decision of my life. I was living off tums and I have not had a single bit of heartburn. It does seem different some how, maybe because I’ve been through this before and know that the first few stages is a bit the bullet until my insides are healed. If anyone asked me, I would simply say, I wish I hadn’t waited so long to get the revision.

Wondering if this ever resolved for you? I’m 4 weeks out and I’m dealing with the same issue. Zofran 8mg is not doing it for me. X-rays shows acid reflux even though I don’t feel or taste it… I was eating normally and advancing in my diet, following orders and all of sudden half way third week I couldn’t eat or tolerate anything anymore. I can’t also have any protein at all cause I will throw up. Imaging showed everything was good. Now I’m worried I will de compensate.