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Yoga is amazing when you have a great teacher and you take care of your body in the process. I'm not into performance yoga but I did private classes with an instructor for Yin Yoga (also called "restorative yoga") for several years, it is fantastic for chronic pain and really helped my arthritis and fibro. In Yin/restorative yoga you rest in poses for 10-15 minutes at a time, it is very gentle. One pose held like that has the same effect as holding that pose for a shorter time, 7 days in a row. This is because the muscle fatigues itself and resets, so you get more mobility and pain relief. It is very gentle and uses a lot of props like folded blankets and blocks. The classes are usually small and the instructors usually help with modifications if you have limited range of motion. Chair yoga is very beneficial too, I've done a fair bit of it. The good aspects of yoga are that it brings increased range of motion, pain relief, better balance, stress relief, a calmer mind, less anxiety, stronger muscles without having to get your heart rate way up, and you get those nice endorphins. It also changes your body composition, you'll look thinner, leaner, longer, more smoothed out. I got a lot of compliments when I was doing it regularly and I was 250 lbs so it wasn't like I was a tiny thing either. I still incorporate some of the poses in my daily activities, like Tree pose when I'm standing at the sink or stove. LOL It can give a boost to your metabolism and help you lose weight, but the best thing it does for the body is increases blood flow to areas that might not get as much oxygenated blood due to stagnation from set body patterns. Bed yoga is also a thing! You can do it in the morning and in the evening right in your soft, cushy bed! It helps you get ready for the day more limber, I have arthritis that is systemic and ankylosing spondylitis so I need all the help stretching in the morning as I can get. It also helps with sleep in the evening. I think your doctor's advice is good. Yoga doesn't have to be the crazy "stand on your head" performance art you see in mainstream classes with skinny 20somethings. It can benefit every body. If you don't jive with it you can try Tai Chi! YouTube has a lot of great videos for Tai Chi for all beginner levels. It is great for longevity and is a better workout than you'd think by just watching it!

I begin my 2 week liquid diet in 10 days, I want to try different shakes beforehand so I can see what I like & so I don’t get bored or just stuck with the same flavor for 2 weeks. please comment protein shakes you would highly recommend to try, Ready made protein shakes or powder !

Yeah I bought a couple of 10 packs of Propels packets. I am going to get a chicken this weekend and start making some broth to freeze into portions. I looked at all the options for broth and it is loaded with salt ,which I am not a fan of, so I figure it is just best to make myself. I am sitting down now going over what I do and don’t need to actually order to cover 6 weeks of liquid diet (3 preop and 3postop) I think I am just feeling overwhelmed at what feels like the last minute now.

Hi everyone! I'm 13 days post op today. I had my gallbladder taken out at the same time because I had gallstones. My surgeon also removed a cyst from my belly button so I expected this surgery to be a difficult recovery but it hasn't been. I stayed only 1 night in hospital, had no trouble with getting myself in and out of bed or using the bathroom, I could drink fluids, I was walking laps, and I had no trouble swallowing pills, so they released me before noon the day after surgery. At home my pain was 6/10 for 2 days then 4/10 for 3 days. The pain was mostly attributed to the spot where the liver retractor was, probably inflammation too. I didn't need to take prescription pain medicine, I only needed Tylenol for the first 5 days. I've been pain free since day 6, and I've been doing great with staying hydrated at home thankfully. I had my first post op checkup on Monday (2 days ago) and everything looks great. They cleared me to start stage 2 Soft foods which has been going well too. I can resume playing sports and start lifting weights in approximately 3-4 weeks. I can't explain why it how my recovery has been so quick and easy. Before surgery I suffered for years with chronic fatigue, GERD, and insulin resistance. Which seem to be resolved as of now. I stopped my metformin a week before surgery, and my blood glucose is now in the normal range! My next goal is to ditch my CPAP machine. I have so much energy and feel better than I have in years. This is why I wanted the surgery, to fix my health issues. Weight loss is just a bonus!

10/30 sleeve update 10/30 I was 355 11/29 I am 313 feel great have a lot of energy ready to get back to working Glad I made this decision to go through with this process got 100 more to go to get to my goal I’m pushing the only one in the way is me

Could be a hypoglycaemic episode. I get lightheaded, cold sweats, weak tummy too. I have them randomly but usually with exercise though I can have them doing nothing remotely strenuous. (Had one on Sunday just standing & chatting 🤷🏻‍♀️.) I had them before so nothing new for me. Yes, an electrolyte drink can help. If doing something quite active I’ll pop a hydralite tablet in my water bottle. If I’m running to the shop before breakfast for milk or something I’ll eat a couple of blueberries. Certainly worth a conversation with your doctor. Try little bursts of activity a few times across the day - called exercise snacking. They all add up. Say you do 3 sessions of 10 minutes that’s 30 mins total. It’s what I do. I also use resistance bands to build & tone muscle. It works - my arms look great & my thighs & calves are larger. (I know cause my pant legs have got tighter which I’m not really happy about 😆.) Also try adding to your usual day to day activity. Going to the shops park further away. Walk/jog up travelators, escalators & stairs. Carry your groceries in do multiple trips instead of carrying all the bags in one or two trips.

Hello surgery buddies. 10/03 here for my sleeve. I managed to make it through Thanksgiving without getting sick from eating, but did manage to catch covid the day after. I've been isolating and barely eating at all. I had a televisit with my nutritionist and I'm cleared for regular diet, but I can barely keep most foods down. I splurged last night and got a kfc bowl which is mostly mashed potatoes but after 5 bites I was done and it came right back up. I am so tired of soup and I'm dying for real food. Have any of you been dealing with anything similar?

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.

OP spoke in the kind of big generalizations ("I'll regret it till I die" etc) of someone who may not have understood that we are playing the long game when we have this surgery. Of course it's hard for a while. Things go wrong. The fundamentals of daily life are changed forever. But adapting is a lifelong process. After 10 years, I feel like the surgery will save your life; but it's up to us to make it a life worth living.

I never did Wegovy (Semaglutide) but a few of my friends have done it. I went straight to surgery. As soon as my friends were off, their body put back on the weight and then some. Too many horror stories about Semaglutide, rotten food stuck in stomach, stomach paralysis, to name a few. My best friends daughter has been on it for 3 months and has only lost 5 pounds, she needs to lose well over 100. Found out her thyroid is messed up so she is on thyroid meds and has lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. She is still considering surgery, but will let her body adapt to thyroid meds first.

Not in the least. I'm trying not to buy much at all lol. I have a box of smaller clothes when I lost over 100 lbs about 10 years ago (like size 13, 15, 19 juniors). I've bought a few pairs of my fav underwear in one size down from where I am now as the 3 pair I bought originally are already to large (guess thats a good thing). Other than that the only other things I've bought have been two pair of cute boots in a smaller size (where I was when I lost all my weight last time) and a workout set to aspire to. I figure the thrift shops will be my go to in between.

A very friendly lady doctor once told me eat 10 different vegetables a day instead of the recommended 5. I put this in place by eating a homemade veg soup or a vegetable salad for lunch. This meal replacement was very low in calories and super filling. I could eat a thoughtful meal with my family in the evening and a low cal. snack later in the evening, like jelly and yogurt or the porridge I swopped it for at breakfast. Of course the weight didn't stay off but I did loose lots until I went on holiday and broke out and went back to my old ways. I didnt feel like I was on much of a diet because I love salad and veg

I have MS and have MRIs with and without contrast twice a year, so I'm used to it. It used to be a crazy 10-15 seconds but now I'm used to it lol

Don't feel bad about 10-20 lb regain. I'm about 11-12 years out from Gastric sleeve surgery. I had it back in 2012, starting at 183 lbs, got down to my lowest of 185 lbs, then from 2016 through 2023 regained back up to 283 lbs. Earlier this year (around march / april of 2023), I was up to 297 lbs. I'm currently hovering around 280-285 lbs pretty consistently, and I'm starting the process to hopefully get the DS surgery. So, take it from me, don't feel bad about the small setback, recognize it and tackle it as soon as possible, because I didn't do that for myself, and I am kicking myself every day. I'm excited, reading these posts, that there are people with DS who eat things like steak and sushi....I love steak; and I love Japanese cuisine (sushi, ramen, hibachi, etc.). Secretly, I've been scared/nervous that I wouldn't be able to eat some of the things I really enjoy ever again after DS. I understand, though, that I'll have to limit my rice intake, and that seems fair enough for weight loss. Lately, I've been enjoying eggs; and I'll take a ribeye anytime and any day I can get my hands on it!

Hi friends. I had my gastric sleeve surgery on November 14th, and everything went smoothly. Pre-up was a breeze for me, I was excited, and generally my mood was good and looking forward to the future. Today, Ten days later and physically I am doing well, I think. I am having a mind over matter problem when it comes to “eating” well drinking my “food”, you know what I mean. Nothing and I mean nothing appeals to me accept really cold water and ice. I hate to sound so dramatic but I am repulsed by anything else, protein shakes, broth, etc etc. it’s not that I can’t keep it down or the taste is that bad (even if it is) it’s my brain. I see myself and I look different, I have definitely lost weight and that’s awesome but I have been really depressed. I don’t even know why, it’s not because of this reason or that reason. I feel lost is the best way to describe it. Like it’s not me here right. I don’t feel like I used to, I don’t even enjoy things that I used to. I feel really alone and like I am in some foreign place where I don’t even know myself. My husband has been supportive but when I try to explain this he goes into the “well this is what you wanted” lecture and I feel worse so I don’t really talk to anyone about it because well yeah this was my doing, my choice. No one wants to hear me complain. I was really curious to know if anyone else who is close to where I am in my “journey” have had these feelings. Maybe I’m just going crazy. Thanks for obliging me, it even feels better to type this out.

For premade, I like the Kettle and Fire beef bone broth. But if you have the bones leftover from Thanksgiving, or from a rotisserie chicken, homemade broth is easy. Put the carcass in a Crockpot along with an onion cut into quarters and a sliced carrot and a celery stalk. You can throw in a sprig of thyme and a bayleaf if you want, but it's not necessary. Fill to 1/2 inch of the top with water, turn on low, and let it cook all night while you sleep, 8-10 hours. Ladle the broth through a fine mesh strainer and skim off the extra fat. Add salt to taste.

I am currently in my pre-op liquid phase. Surgery in 10 days. Im drinking Protien2o, SEEQ (its a clear liquid whey, pretty sweet), and Chocolate Fairlife. I do like some of the Premier Protein drinks as well, but my doctor requested I stay away from coffee, and those happen to be my favorite flavors. Jello has been great too when I feel like I need to chew something. Also, pickle juice has helped cut cravings and is a great electrolyte replacement. 😉 I'm currently looking for a good bone broth. With the cold weather coming I would really love something warm in my belly. I've tried Bare&Bones Chicken bone broth and hated it. Made me very hesitant to buy anything else.

Congratulations on achieving your study & work goals & normalising your BP & diabetes. Whoo hoo! Though I am sorry you will be facing more surgeries. Okay, have to admit, I too wondered much weight I’d lose if I had my fibroids removed. Though they’re not as large as yours, cause me no issues (a benefit of being old & past it LOL!) so are leaving them for now. Don’t know if you’ve had a contrast CT scan before but they are crazy weird. After they inject the contrast you get a warm feeling a bit like a hot flush over your body (though mine was just in my abdomen & my ears), you feel like you’re peeing yourself but aren’t & my eyes rolled back in my head. It only lasts a few seconds but a crazy ride for those 10 seconds or so.

Thanks for the recommendation! I will look into that YouTube channel. Honestly, I feel like I took Wegovy before I had admitted to myself that I was ready to undergo surgery. It had always been in the back of my mind, but I never thought that it would be something I would do. It's hard to give up the lifelong hope of being able to lose weight on your own. I took a class on weight loss where we discussed energy homeostasis and the different survival mechanisms our bodies have to prevent us from starving, i.e., stop us from losing fat storage so we don't die. It was very eye-opening to the types of changes that must take place for sustainable, long-term weight loss. Bariatric surgery has a ~75% success rate compared to the ~10% success rate seen in conventional weight loss attempts, and it's BECAUSE of the physiological changes made in your body due to the anatomical change made to it during surgery. That, paired with practicing healthy behaviors for both physical and mental health, leads to more permanent weight loss. I've been able to maintain my post-Wegovy weight loss for months now, but achieving additional weight loss has just been impossible.

I think you need to go back to your team. You need advice on real foods. You should not need protein supplements this far out. I had 6 meals a day at 1 year out too. Breakfast - 100 grams Greek yogurt with fruit - 10 grams protein Snack - 25 grams nuts - 5 grams protein Lunch - 100 grams prawns and small salad salad - 16 grams protein Snack - 25 grams Biltong - 13 grams protein Evening meal - tuna - 50 grams with mayo and on a slice of super seeded bread - 17 grams protein snack - Glass of milk or protein pudding I hope this helps a little, I could get in 60 - 80 grams of protein a day eat similar foods to this

I had my VGS on 10/16- and was losing pretty regularly. I have noticed a stall just recently and I even went up a little. I was just released to regular food though so I know I’ve eaten more carbs lately. I’ve got to get back to my protein shakes but the taste of them makes my tummy upset. the worst part is trying to get my water in- it’s been next to impossible. I’m just not thirsty or tempted to drink. Sugar substitutes trigger dumping now so additives like crystal light are out. I’ve done lemon and orange zest and it works for a day or two and then it’s back to the drawing board. Coconut water (urg empty calories) and Gatorade are now my go to- so frustrated.

Oh, and as for your mother's concerns. They are valid. The unfortunate fact is that the same mechanisms that help us lose the weight and reverse co-morbidities also restrict nutrients and our ability to get fluids in when we are sick. Sometimes that means we end up in the hospital for fluids or electrolytes. But with a more severe illness sometimes it can lead to low protein levels or low vitamin levels and the body struggles with that, this can happen with ANY of the surgeries, but is of course a little more common with the malabsorption surgeries. This can complicate an illness with an already complicated clinical presentation. I can see how if it got out of hand and wasn't properly treated, it could contribute to someone's death, but it would be secondary normally to their originating condition. However, what I would invite your mother to consider is how pre-existing co-morbidities like diabetes, high blood pressure, and such contribute to severe illnesses as well. If you don't have these now, you probably will in the next 10 years. Those things can kill you too and can make your health much more fragile when dealing with an extra illness, like cancer or severe pneumonia. The only thing I can think of that would be originating from the DS that could kill you is severe protein deficiencies that go untreated, severe vitamin deficiencies that go untreated, and the possibility of bowel obstructions. All three of these things can also happen with Gastric Bypass. They are by no means common with either surgery, but they are a risk to be aware of and watchful for... My uncle was in his 40s when he had his first heart attack. It was also his last heart attack as it killed him. He had all the co-morbidities that I have. I thought long and hard about this before deciding on the surgery. I finally decided I'd rather trade a life of medications for a life of vitamins 4-5 times a day. And a life of being able to move and run and hike, and travel, for a life spent on the couch. And if at the end of my life I get sick and things get unbalanced and that malabsorption does me in, it will still have been a life MUCH better lived than if I had passed up the surgery. And it would (hopefully) be spared the heart attacks, diabetic and high blood pressure complications, possible amputations, etc.. Not everyone would think this way, but I like to go into things with my eyes wide open and I always have to think about the worst before I can let myself dream about the best... I wish you luck in your decision! ❤️

Hi KyahRose! I just had the DS surgery on November 1st. I considered SADI-S, Bypass, and DS when deciding on which surgery to go with. In the end I picked DS even though it is the scariest of the surgeries, because I wanted the benefit of my co-morbidities going into remission which the other two surgeries can do, but the DS does best. Plus I wanted a surgery that has a lot of studies behind it going out years, and while the bypass does have that, the SADI does not. I didn't want to have an experimental surgery, enough of my medical care is experimental. LOL The DS has a proven track record and is safe for the vast majority of people who have it. That being said, it IS a serious surgery. You can make yourself very ill if you don't follow the protein and vitamin recommendations, and even the vitamin recommendations from the docs are often not enough. I highly recommend going over to bariatricfacts.com and joining the forum there to talk to the DS vets. I'm over there as Shrinkingmytiara. These are people who have had the surgery 10+ years. They will tell you the good, bad, and ugly and make sure you understand the ugly and what you are getting yourself into. There is a wealth of info on that site about DS and some about the SADI. On FB there is a Duodenal Switch SUPPORT Group (there are a number of them, but I'm in that one) which also has a lot of vets in it. It has people with DS and with SADI. You'll read a lot of complaint posts from people who are having issues (common for any support group) but it'll give you an idea of what some of the challenges are post surgery. Again, your odds of having complications are quite low (though a little higher than the other surgeries), but it is still worth seeing what others are experiencing. I'm sure you could find the same for Bypass. I have had no major complications with my surgery so far. I had a lot of nausea and ended up in the hospital an extra night while we stabilized that and my pain levels. Once I came home I've only needed my nausea meds a handful of times and I didn't need pain meds. I wasn't able to ingest whey protein drinks for the first two weeks but my surgeon told me the body has stores for 3 weeks, so to focus on water and the rest would come. He was right! I can drink them now and am getting protein in what I eat now that I'm on soft foods. I've met my fluid goals every day, some days are harder than others. I've had some diarrhea on and off but my system tends that way even pre-surgery. I could drink lactose free milk and bone broth the first week so those are what kept me going. I actually feel more energy now most days than I did before surgery which is strange to me! I do tire out a little easy though because I'm still healing. My stomach did these spasms while feeling like it was turning in cartwheels inside me for about 2 weeks. They finally faded like the surgeon said they would. I'm diabetic. My fasting blood sugar now sits at 87 which is stellar. They told me to stop the diabetes meds. I had high blood pressure but they took me off those in the hospital and my blood pressure is normal! 105/76 when checked at my 2 week follow up!! I've lost 21 lbs in 3 weeks post surgery, for a total of 35 lbs from my highest weight. I can't wrap my head around that, it happened so quickly! I had a moment post surgery when I panicked over permanently altering my body in such a drastic way, but then I reminded myself that the way my body was pre-surgery was killing me, this was the only path forward to health that I could see. I don't regret it at all. I'm happy to talk with you more about it if you want, and you can feel free to message me if you want to keep in touch! There aren't very many DSers around here active anymore!

I had my gastric sleeve in March of 2012 with a starting weight of roughly 283 lbs at consultation / start of my journey. The lowest weight I was able to get to was about 185-188 lbs which was in early to mid 2015. Later that year, I developed a wrist injury and eventually needed surgery in 2016, and began around late 2015 to early 2016 putting on weight. From October 2016 to now I've essentially regained all of my weight back. I am contemplating revisional surgery at this time, and looking around for surgeons. I have a consultation with one surgeon set for Nov. 27th with Dr. Alibhai in Irving, Tx. (If anyone has any experience they can share, please do.) My other choice of surgeon would be Dr. Matin who did my mother's Gastric Bypass around 2007. I'm wanting to revise to the DS....but, now I am reading and learning about the SADI DS and I now don't really know which one of these I would like to do. My mom is trying to talk me more into doing the gastric bypass rather than the DS. I understand she's worried, she knew someone who recently passed away who was having complications with her DS....I don't know the specifics, but that is the gist of her reasons for not wanting me to go with the DS. At the same time, I'm 10-11 years out from my Sleeve surgery, so I've also had some thoughts about if I could possibly get a re-sleeve along with the DS. (At this rate, I think I've decided I want the DS, just not certain if I want the traditional DS or the SADI version. If anyone has any experience with Dr Mustafa Alibhai and / or experience with Re-Sleeve + DS / SADI revision, could you please share? I would really like to get back to the 180s at the very least. I felt soo much better at that weight, even though I was still a good 50-70 lbs over weight (I'm 5'3). Thank you!

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.