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I've been lurking for a few weeks so I know what you mean. I am focused on getting through the next few weeks post op- I am definitely proud of how far I've come. Thanks for the advice.

I'm a 66 year old women 3 weeks post op my blood pressure has been elevated since surgery has anyone else had this problem

Hello all. I am excited be on this weight loss journey. I had my VGS on July 6, 2023, so I am a less than a week post-op. I started this journey at 267 lbs- consult day. The day of surgery I was 230 lbs. My surgery went well, I spent one night in the hospital. My incisions are still sore but manageable, I feel great. Today, I weighed in at 226 lbs. I live in Florida. It is so great to have a place to share my experience and get advice. I hope I can be helpful in some way and my words can inspire someone.

Just responding to my own post to have everything in one place. General Down almost 60lbs after surgery on May 18th. No complications. I followed the rules exactly on the diet, but continued to push the exercise because that's my personality. In fact, I would say I've become a little obsessive with the exercise, walking/running/biking everyday. I have also experienced a lot of ups and downs since the surgery. Food The first week after surgery I was fine with the limited clear liquids, however, near the end of the first week I was sick and tired of the clear liquids. The second week was the same. First part of the week was good because of new liquids, but near the end of the second week I was sick of the limitations. Basically I was excited every time I got new foods, and was sick of it by the end. This was not so much because I was having cravings for fatty or sugary foods, I just needed variety. Now I'm opened up to try whatever I want, except carbonation. I'm still not trying bread, but have had really small tastes of pasta (really small) or eaten really small keto tortillas without issue. I'm still keeping a daily log of all food eaten and hitting my macros on most days. I'm really focusing on my protein (100+ grams a day; I've really been aiming for 130+ grams, but it's tough) intake as I don't want to lose any more muscle. I do notice that I get the hiccups when I'm full. Sometimes my nose runs when I'm full as well. I did get the "slimes" once. I was trying to eat a breakfast taco on the keto tortilla and I guess it was too dry. I only got half down (the tortillas are only about 3.5 inches across; really small) and it felt like it was stuck. So what do you do when food is stuck, DRINK! That was a mistake. Got the slimes and eventually threw up. That's the only time that has happened. Fortunately, it was like 5 weeks after surgery, but I was worried I had done something to my stomach. Went out to eat with the family a week ago and tried ghost pepper wings (which I'm normally fine with). I also put ghost pepper hot sauce on my refried beans, without issue. The spicy wings did not go well. It was much spicier than normal and I ended up drinking water and almost threw up. Prior, I had eaten 3 wingstop wings with blue cheese and was fine (mango habanero). We went out to dinner again last night and I had a few bites of salad, about 2 ounces of chicken breast with BBQ sauce and a few bites of sweet potato and was stuffed. I used to get a 16 ounce ribeye with mushrooms and onions, mashed potatoes, veggies and a couple of tall beers. I did not feel like I was missing out, which feels kind of weird. My kids got a dessert and I wasn't interested in it. Sugar free popsicles taste really good and are almost too sweet now. I was really worried about eating out (what I was going to eat; how it was going to go, etc). I feel more comfortable now for when we go out with friends. Bonus, I have saved a TON of money on food and alcohol. Like a crazy amount. I did have a glass of bourbon on the rocks last week. Drank it slow and it went down just fine. Zero issues. I'm not going to start drinking though, and will just stick to an occasional drink. Exercise I started walking very soon after surgery, 10K steps a day, and pushed it too far too early. I dialed it back for the first two weeks, but then picked it back up. Now I either walk for 15K+ steps a day or ride the bike for an hour. Every day. I get a more intense workout on the bike plus it's better on my joints. Walking seems to hurt my hips and back, but I'm powering through. I'm going to a physical therapist on Thursday to try to figure that out. As I said above, I'm definitely obsessive about my exercise. Sometimes to the point where I wear myself out and am exhausted for the rest of the day. Some of that is a mix of the intense exercise and limited calorie intake. I've also told myself that I was not going to obsess about the scale and I was only going to weigh once a week, because the weekly/monthly trend is the only thing that matters (my weight fluctuates up and down daily, but trends down weekly/monthly). However, I find it really difficult to avoid weighing myself multiple times a day. I'm obsessed with the scale as well. Mood Overall, I'm OK. Weight loss is really good. Hit a couple of short stalls. No complications, but my mood is really up and down, which is not normal for me. So much so, that I have scheduled an appt with a therapist next week (first time in my life). The doldrums are real, especially after VSG, so take care of yourselves, physically and mentally. Meds I'm completely off my BP meds and it's currently averaging 120/80. I have GERD with a history of Barrett's Esophagus, and I'm currently taking 40mg omeprazole daily. I was really worried about it getting worse after surgery, but I have had zero issues. I have a follow up appt with my VSG doc next week and I'm going to see if I can test 20mg. I would love to get off all meds. I tried the barimelts at the suggestion of my doctor, and they were OK the first couple of days. Then they totally grossed me out. I mean, like I was about to vomit and dreaded taking them every day. I only made it about a week before I gave up. I'm back on regular vitamins for now and tolerating them just fine. I'm going to ask the doc about that next week as well. Misc Because of the connective tissue disorder, my shoulders are really messed up. My right one especially. I'm glad it's not affecting my exercising. I just saw an orthopedic and she described my shoulder as "gnarly". Reverse shoulder replacement is in my future, but in the meantime, I'll have it scoped for labrum and rotator cuff repair, plus Bankart repair with the remplissage procedure. I am looking forward to relief from the chronic pain, but not the recovery. I hear it is brutal. TLDR Wished I would've had the surgery sooner. Plan for some ups and downs. Follow the plan. Take care of yourself. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Stalls are super frustrating! I am currently in that 3-4 week stall myself but I came across an interesting article regarding WHY it happens. Basically, your body is trying to figure out its new normal. During the low calorie liquid and puréed stage during the first 4-5 weeks, your body has gone from burning things like carbs for energy to burning fat. But during this process you had to burn through your glycogen stores as well. (Glycogen also holds a lot of water which is why we can get dehydrated even though we are drinking a lot of fluids). Our bodies are trying to find our new normal in what to burn for energy and our fluid levels are equalizing which can keep the number on the scale the same or even climb. I have a scale that gives me my water, fat and muscle composition and during this time, I am losing fat, gaining water and muscle and the scale hasn’t changed in 13 days and knowing that my body is adjusting really helped me relax. My blood pressure also dropped enough to stop my blood pressure meds!!! Be kind to yourself, give yourself good foods, drink as much water as you are able and get your movement in. As others have said here, this is a marathon, not a quick fix. Hugs to all!

I'm feeling really good. one week out today!! Trying a couple of pureed foods also.

Walking from day 1. Longer walking with slight incline by week 3. Cleared for ALL exercise at week 6.

When I had my original surgery, I added black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to my broths. It got me through the bland phase. I know it’s difficult the first few weeks until you can eat more solid food. What I’ve done with ricotta cheese, yogurt, sugar-free pudding and cottage cheese is to add Splenda and extracts or professional flavorings (like cake decorators use; I did some cake decorating). Missing pumpkin pie? Add pumpkin pie extract or flavoring to ricotta cheese. I use flavorings by Lorann Oils. You can find some at Michaels, Joann, and local cake and candy supply stores. You can also order them online at www.lorannoils.com.

I reintroduced raw vegetables and nuts on my surgeon's schedule at 3 months, which was the last "salad ingredient" I was restricted from eating. I've never had an issue with salads not agreeing with me; it's all heavy carbs that give me trouble (potatoes, rice, pasta).

I am one week out today. I had my surgery last Monday. The worry and anxiety before were way worse than the past week has been. Today I feel really good.

RickM, thank you for your reply. I'm slowly realizing it's a completely different journey than when I had my sleeve 14 years ago. I'm going to try to stay away from the scale for a while (I was using it every 3 days because when I was sleeved, I was really losing weight fast). After my sleeve, I lost 15 lbs first week, 9 lbs second week, and it just melted off. Over the summer, I'd lost 78 lbs altogether. So this is a really big change. But I'm sticking to my plan, my vitamins, and working on upping my water intake. Since May 11, I've lost 43 lbs, so in retrospect, it's really not so bad. 😊

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback! I'm sharing my supplement requirements from my program (see attachment). They expect more than what the typical bariatric vitamins offer, even if I were to take 2-3 per day. Plus my neurologist requires a daily minimum of 25mg of B6 - most don't come close to that, so I'll just take an additional B complex. I'm just surprised the dosages are so low in the vitamins. I'm looking into each supplement suggested here, so I appreciate your input. I start my pre-op liquid diet tomorrow.

The good news is that this seems to be fairly normal - our weight loss when we start a major effort, surgical or not, tends to be front loaded - lots of initial loss, mostly water weight, and then slows down. Plus you are just getting in.to the "three week stall" window where weight loss typically slows or stops for a bit while the body absorbs what has happened to it, and then resumes (though usually at a slower rate.) The not so good news is that as a revision, weightloss is typically slower and less than with the original surgery. My simple minded thought on this is that originally, our stomachs will hold 32-64 oz, but now after your original WLS and whatever stretch and adaptation it goes through over the years, it might hold 4-6 oz, yet you have adapted to that (learned how to eat around your sleeve/pouch) and still regained. So things will be slower. And, the biggest loss tends to be around surgery time when we are stuck with the highly restrictive pre- and post-op dieting. Additionally, the RNY is metabolically similar to your original VSG, so it doesn't provide a big change over what you had - so it is much slower going the second time around. (The DS, duodenal switch, is stronger metabolically than either of the others, so does work somewhat better on regain, but few surgeons offer it, or mention it.) Those who I have seen who have done really well with revision weight loss are those who take the "I'm not going to let that happen again" attitude and really knuckle under and get, and stay with, the program.

A person who uses smokeless tobacco gets 3 to 4 times the amount of nicotine as a smoker. A person who uses 8 to 10 dips or chews a day gets the same amount of nicotine as a heavy smoker who smokes 30 to 40 cigarettes a day. The nicotine in smokeless tobacco is absorbed by the body more slowly than in smoking. But it stays in the body longer. As for hindering healing post-op, seems there haven't been enough studies done to be conclusive for dipping. My unprofessional guess is that whether nicotine is smoked, vaped or dipped, it's still in your system...hindering healing. For those who choose not to quit, I've read to stop 6 weeks before surgery and 6 weeks after. But between the tars and acids you ingest with dipping, it will probably increase your future ulcer risk tenfold. Yikes!!

Let me introduce you all to the many ways I’ve eaten eggs this past week. 😂 I was feeling a little heavy so wanted switch up my diet back to keto (which has worked for me in the past) and decided on a slightly modified egg fast to get back into things. Lost 7lbs of water weight in 4 days. Eggs with avocado (my modified one a day veggie choice) and feta, hard boiled eggs with mayo and hot sauce (not pictured), snickerdoodle cream cheese egg crepes, scrambled eggs with cheese, hard boiled eggs and chipotle mayo, a pizza chaffle moth marinara (my modified one a day veggie choice), garlic bread? ( this recipe needs work but the flavor was good), the recipe called it a crustless quiche (with mayo added), mini lemon cheesecakes (these were SO good!), and then cloud eggs with homemade hollandaise (these were just ok). Annnd what I ate for breakfast this morning was these reverse scotch eggs.

Thank you. I do understand the reasons and how necessary the pre-diet is. Not doing it is not a question, I do understand the need to get the liver as small as possible. My concern was I’ve been doing the pre-diet in sort of a “Light” version, trying to figure out ahead of time (with my nutritionist’s encouragement) the flavors I like and the mechanics (like what blender works best, powder vs premix, etc etc). I want to know what I like, get the shopping out of the way and be ready to roll when the time comes. I was surprised to see the scale dropping, thought to myself Wow, I can lose weight just drinking one protein shake a day? Might want to rethink this whole thing- and then I started taking my glucose readings. What I’m worried about is it’ll be 2 more months minimum before the surgery, mandated by insurance prerequisites, and my diabetes has taken a turn for the worse. Up to this point, it’s been borderline but OF COURSE now my numbers have started spiking and I’ve started losing weight. My insurance has a BMI of 40, or of 35 with health issues. I’ve bounced around between 37 and 42 over the past few years, have the health issues (diabetes, heart, high blood pressure). I’m seeing the endocrinologist this week to probably be started on medication and I hope that gets things under control quickly. My worry is the weight I’m losing has been unexpected. I know from family members that weight loss was one of the first signs of diabetes. They regained the weight eventually, but it was rather dramatic, and muscle, not fat so there wasn’t even a silver lining there. So. That’s my worry- if this weight I’ve lost (and will possibly keep losing for a little while until medication and diet modification stops this) added to the weight loss from the 2 week liquid diet could slam the brakes on the bypass surgery at the last minute.

Hi... I'm new to this thread. My mini gastric bypass surgery was on June 6th. I think my doctor made my pouch too small. I'm constantly nauseous, at least every 3 days. I'm almost afraid to eat. I can only have a few bites of fish...usually salmon and can only eat cantaloupe. I'm no longer able to drink my protein shake....a few sips make me nauseous. Is or has anyone experienced these?

Wowwww that is a lot of pills, I use the one and done and the 3 calcium citrate a day, I'm not good with taking a million pills day

Tuesday for me! I just had my last bit of solid food, a spoon of peanut butter as my last snack. Per my dr, loading up on Tylenol ahead of time. Tomorrow is liquid only and my last day at work for 3 blessed weeks. We have an hour drive after work, a ferry ride (I love ferry rides!) and then about 30 minutes to the hotel. I'm mostly packed, just deodorant, my tablet, and Kindle. Maybe a spindle for spinning yarn.

Semi Homemade mushroom calzone & garlic knots (store bought dough). The calzone wasn’t for me but I had about 5 garlic knots with 3 meatballs from the huge batch I made.

I thought I had found the perfect bariatric vitamin from Walgreens (Optifast Post Bariatric) but recently found out it's either completely out of stock or discontinued. So now I am on the search for a good RNY vitamin as well. I was told too by my nutritionist that taking a chewable multiple times a day was better absorbed than taking a bunch of regular pill type vitamins. At least for gastric bypass patients. I need to figure it out soon since I only have a couple weeks supply left. The last thing I need is to become vitamin deficient and have my teeth breaking off like chalk. If I have to, I guess I'll stock up on Flintstone chewables. xD

Hi there. I’ve been watching a few videos on the 2 week pre-diet and was wondering… I am on the lower end of qualifying BMI, only qualifying with my insurance company because of other health complications. Can the weight loss of the pre surgery diet present a problem or is the insurance process already sealed before the diet begins? I yo yo between a BMI of 37 and 42, have been more diet conscious since starting with the nutritionist and am dropping a few pounds a week. With a minimum of 2 more months to go before the pre op diet, I’m worried I’ll be pushing the margin (though know I’ll never see a healthy weight without this surgery)

I started walking day 1 after surgery to prevent blood clots every few hours for 5-10 minutes. I continued on with that until I was up to a mile once a day. Started inside on my treadmill and walking outside for now until it gets too hot. Today at 10AM it was only 70 degrees with a cool breeze so pushed myself to go round the lake a second time for 2 miles total. 😤 Not bad for someone who was almost completely sedentary pre-op, My bariatric team advises nothing harder than walking until 6 weeks after surgery. Weeks 2-4 light physical activity. Low impact walking and stretching. Weeks 4-8 add cardio activities. Increase walking distance and/or speed. Biking, water aerobics. Easier on joints. 5xs a week for 30 minutes and build from there. Week 6 add strength training twice a week in addition to cardio. I have yet to start the strength training. I had a hiatal hernia repair at the time of my RNY so I'm a bit apprehensive to start. But I do look at the weights as I pass thru the room to go sit in the infrared sauna. LOL Good luck @Nicnak

Hello all. I am nearly 13 weeks post RNY. I am eating all kinds of modified regular foods, so overall I don’t have a problem meeting my protein goals. I still have a protein shake daily - however it is because it’s the easiest way to get a huge dose of protein in with my morning coffee. I’ve never been one to eat solid foods so early in the morning. I make proffees and while it was a bit of an adjustment to my regular cup of coffee, I am so used to it now. My preferred protein shake of choice to use is the Fairlife Core Power Vanilla shake as I can use it both cold and heated depending on whether I want hot or iced coffee. I mix it up a bit and also have the Fairlife Nutrition plan chocolate shake as well for a mocha. I much prefer the vanilla, but they are so hard to come by these days. I either cannot find them anywhere locally and/or the online retailers and nearby stores have them at insane prices. I do not like the taste of Premier Protein shakes at all. They taste much to chemical and box like. I have tried the Quest shakes and it’s ok in a pinch, but the aftertaste is more pronounced. Shakes are so expensive so the trial and error is a bit daunting. I have tried Ensure Max in their coffee flavor and again the chemical and box taste is just like premier. My second favorite has been the Chike Protein Coffee powder, but I only have these iced and they have a bit less protein so I mix them with Fairlife Skim milk and a scoop of collagen. I have tried isopure unflavored protein powder and tried to incorporate it, but for something unflavored it reminds me of infant formula and is not pleasant. I am considering trying the Unjury ready made vanilla shakes, but unsure if I’ll like them and because it’s only sold in larger packs, I’m stuck with it if I don’t like it. What are protein shakes people are liking?

I'm using the Bariatric Fusion multivitamin chewable. I'm taking 1 three times throughout the day. I added a separate chewable B12, plus a chewable iron, a chewable biotin, and a chewable calcium. The thing with the bypass is that because of the malabsorption, we need to take them several times a day because we don't absorb the way sleevers do. I am a revision from sleeve to bypass (20 days out). It won't do us any good to take a large amount of any vitamin just once or twice a day because we won't absorb it anyway. We'll have better luck taking the regular amounts several times a day. This way, we give our bodies several opportunities to absorb some of the vitamins we're consuming. Also, we shouldn't take iron and calcium together because they compete for absorption. Those should be taken at least 2-3 hours apart.