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I had my vsg on 2/25- I’ve lost 20lbs but I feel as though some of it was bloat due to getting my period the day after surgery. I can’t stand protein drinks OR broth so a week after surgery I’d started eating pudding, instant potatoes, and anything else smooth and mixing protein powder in everything. I also purchased bariatric foods that already had protein added- they make protein garlic mashed potatoes and protein hot chocolate!! I now also can eat egg whites, Refried beans, and a lick of peanut butter. I don’t seem to have issues tolerating anything really. The only thing I concentrate on is getting enough water. My only issue is possible overdoing it. I have my two week postop visit this Monday and I’m going to mention that my abdominal muscles feel pulled. I feel so good sometimes that I start doing things around the house.. but then later I have sharp pains in my abdominals. I really need to take a step back and rest more. I really can’t wait to eat some tuna or other foods as I get bored easily. I don’t have cravings for bad food just solid food in general.

Is the place a bariatric office or just a general doctor’s Office?

That does give you an indication of their priorities! The practice my wife and I used was proud of the extensive collection of bariatric furniture they had, and also the fat suit that they used in training new staff so that they have some feel for what their patients were going through living as a fattie. Maybe your guys are trying to "shrink" their world around their customers to encourage them to shrink along with it. Probably not the best approach, but it does give you some idea of what you will be putting up with over the next few months. Maybe consider a change in practice to one who is more patient focused? Even our local hospital has a decent selection of fat chairs in their various outpatient clinics (just for the general population, not just in the bariatric clinic.)

Hello there! I’m a 36 year old mom of 3. I have always been on the high end of a healthy BMI but after the birth of my first child my weight just kept creeping up. I am 5’8 and at my wedding I was 168lbs now 7 years later I was staring at 270lbs. I decided enough was enough and I contacted a bariatric clinic. Everything moved very quickly (self pay) and a month later I was sleeved. I am only a week post op, so looking for advice and support.

Yeah I think now that I have written everything down and spoke with all you lovely people, I think it most likely is the meds, hormones and insulin so I guess it’s back to the surgeons and doctors and Bariatric specialists yay 🙄

you are doing fine. Keep following your program and stay off the scale if you have to! I think people's expectations come from shows like "My 600 lb Life". Yes, those people drop like 30 or 40 lbs the first month, but they also start at 600+ lbs. Starting BMI is a HUGE factor in your rate of weight loss. Most of us "normal" bariatric patients will not lose nearly that fast. At a starting weight of 242 lbs, I would not expect you to lose that fast. You are doing just fine! and yes - almost all of us go through the so-called "three week stall" (doesn't always happen the third week, but it happens SOMETIME during the first six weeks or so post-surgery)

The meds control the reflux as far as acid coming up through my nose and mouth. I really don't feel like I am suffering aside from not being on my meds. I went and seen the bariatric NP and she sent me in for a upper GI barium swallow. I reflux while drinking. They say my esophagus is working slow and that is why I have always felt like something is stuck or trying to stick. I guess I don't see how RNY will make my esophagus work correctly ?

Hey Mello 1, you are truly awesome to provide updates and etc. I've moved to the couch today, much better. The Bariatric Nurse checked in with me and told me to take the Gas -X. She also recommended the heating Pad, which I started using earlier today. I appreciate it, now for this sore throat, ugh!!! Better than Bullion broth is great, veggie flavor is nice. I'm also consuming more fluids today, thank goodness. I had a few mind trips for the first time while on this journey last night and early hours of the morning. The emotions are real, the mind will tell you that you are hungry, the body is healing (practice patience with yourself), you may weigh more when you first come home ( don't worry about it), we just had a major surgery...Walk that gas out as much as possible, it is deceptive and will mess with your mental. That gas is the devil. I'm also developing a sore throat as mentioned, but I'm going to have to deal with it. We are here and we will see this through, I will be okay. I'm thankful for Bariatric Pal and each of you for understanding the importance of having a positive connection in this community. Life is a struggle and it's good to have a healthy outlet.

I have low energy... but that's because I have a permanent back injury that has been acting up since I went back to work two weeks ago and the Valium I take for it contributes to low energy lol. Personally, it sounds like your vitamin levels may be off. I have low potassium and I've been working on getting that back up, but I, honestly just think the low potassium is because it runs in my family and not through any fault of my own. Both my mom and grandma have been hospitalized for their low potassium before and neither of them had bariatric surgery. So for me it's a genetic thing that I just have to work on. Luckily the levels are just slightly low so the doctor isn't too worried about it. I suggest you call your doctor up and discuss how your feeling and see if they can order you lab tests to see what's going on so you know what you'll need to help you feel better.

Aha. What do you mean by hormones and contraception? It may well be the medication you've been switched to. You may also wish to have a conference with your doctor or bariatric surgeon about that.

Thanks for the imput, y'all! I really needed to hear other opinions. It really is a chicken/egg situation. 😄 The steriods are a big thing to consider. I will bring all of this up with my bariatric surgeon. I have had issues finding a good orthopedic doctor but I'll seek one out asap to get their advice as well.

I don't have this particular scenario, but I see these kinds of scenarios in the type of work that I do and I can tell you with reasonable certainty that your back problems and pain are directly affected by morbid obesity. When you're obese, not only are you carrying around a heavy load and putting stress on all of your joints, but you often alter your posture to accommodate the weight. This can lead to progressive degenerative disc disease, disc herniation, radiculopathy, etc. Also, it's not uncommon for the joints adjacent to the spinal fusion to develop issues like herniation. It sounds like you're in a bit of a chicken/egg situation. The excess weight is definitely exacerbating the back condition, but it's hard to do anything about the weight because of the back issue. Losing weight will not "unherniate" your discs, but I have seen cases where a herniation sort of retracts a bit and no longer impinges on nerves with proper physical therapy. Of course, the likelihood of that depends on the severity of the herniation. I would strongly encourage you to have this conversation with both of the doctors. Meaning, the bariatric doctor and the orthopedic/neuro-surgeon who is treating your back. Not just the pain management guy, the SURGEON. Flatly ask them which one they would recommend you pursue first. Then, ask them to explain WHY. Once you understand, you can proceed in confidence knowing the situation, the benefits, and the consequences. <disclaimer>I am NOT a doctor, but I routinely work with individuals who have had back injuries, degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, sciatica, radiculopathy and the like.

Had anyone here had to drink 450 ml of barium for a CT scan AFTER bariatric surgery? I have to drink one bottle tonight and one in the morning. Do you remember how long it took you to get it down? I am nervous that I wont be able to get it all in. And since it was just prescribed I cant time myself to see how long it takes to get water down ahead of time. Just trying to figure out what time to start drinking it to ight and in the AM. They do assign a time, but it will take me much longer. I didnt get help when i asked at the radiology office. The people just didnt get the problem lol Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

I would first check with your bariatric team. I would assume they gave you instructions/guidelines of the vitamins etc you need to take after surgery. I wouldn’t add anything more to that - they are the experts.

So, yesterday was my 6 month gastric surgery anniversary. And Holy Crap. Yesterday was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I started the day feeling pretty good. Went to the Cardiologist. He was so happy for my weight loss. He wanted me to lose weight, but didn't know about the VSG. He was impressed with how much weight I lost so fast. He also commented I look great and was shocked I don't look "sickly" at all due to the rapid weight loss like many patients he sees. He was thrilled with my increased physical activity and my plans to hike the "Camino de Santiago" in Spain this summer. (It is a "pilgrimage" where you walk literally across Northern Spain or another route to Santiago de Compostela). We discussed my tachycardia and sometimes low blood pressure. He is having me reduce my dosage to half a pill (YAY!). We discussed my cholesterol and medication for it. I told him of my desire to attempt to go off it for a while to see if I can keep my lipid panel numbers in check without it now that I lost all my excess weight and am eating much healthier. We agreed that I will stay on it for 6 more months and then do labs. If my numbers are good, he will let me go off them and see how my labs hold up. I acknowledged to him that I know if they do go back on them, then I will have to take it for the rest of my life... he was happy with that compromise. On top of all that already great news... I asked him about my EKG which I had already looked at myself (I am a former trauma nurse, I know how to read them). He confirmed what I already knew... my EKG was NORMAL!!! Now this is HUGE because the reason I decided to look into WLS in the first point was because I was worried about my heart. At my appointment with him in fall 2018, my EKG showed that I had an enlarged Left Ventrical for the first time. I had an echocardiogram several months later that confirmed the EKG findings. THIS is the reason I insisted on getting weight loss surgery in the first place. My heart was working too hard and was beginning to enlarge. This was unacceptable. This was my reason to stop "trying" to lose weight and for making sure I "did" lose weight. So here I am... 1 1/2 years after identifying that my heart was enlarging.... and all my excess weight is GONE and my enlarged heart is GONE TOO! OMG, I left the cardiologist office on such a high note, I practically floated home lol. And I called my husband with so much excitement. It was a great day. Until..... During the drive home from my cardiologist I got an e-mail from the radiology office. I saw the e-mail when I stopped to exchange some pants at Old Navy. Some of you may recall I posted recently that my bilirubin levels had been rising since surgery. I normally have a high normal to slightly high bilirubin level. It is something that I have monitored my entire adult life. But since surgery, my bilirubin keeps getting higher. I saw my lab results before my bariatric surgeon did. I printed the results, wrote a note to my regular nurse practitioner, and dropped them off at her office. She called a couple hours later and agreed that we need to do an ultrasound to check my gallbladder and liver out. I did that Tuesday and was told that the results would not be available until Friday. Except now it is Wednesday, the next day, and I get a text that my results were available online. Again, I saw the results before either my general nurse practitioner or the bariatric surgeon. And what I read was devastating. My liver and gallbladder are just fine (weird... so why is my bilirubin elevated?). But I have a fairly large mass in my Left Kidney! I have a flippin TUMOR in my kidney! And they recommended on my report that I get a CT Scan or an MRI to further assess it. They used 2 terms to describe what kind of mass it appears to be. Both terms used, are the kind of masses that are cancerous 85% of the time. And even if it ISN'T cancer.... the mass is big enough that I know the first line of treatment is either a partial or total nephrectomy. Holy Crap. Add to that, I know that my grandfather wasn't much older than me when he had kidney cancer and had HIS left kidney removed. And I figure out all of this within 5 minutes, because as a Registered Nurse I already know too much. Still... I keep my **** together and calmly (but unnerved) drive home. I get home, I refill my water, I sit for a minute quitely before I call my husband over to talk. He is a Registered Nurse too... and I told him there is a mass on my Kidney and he made the same assessment I did... only he is much more panicked about it than I am. He wants to rush over to the nurse practitioners office NOW. I told him I want to wait a little bit so she can have time to look at the report first. Then I noticed a missed call from her. How I missed it, is beyond me... but she must have called in the 1 - 1 minute dead zone on my way home. What luck. And BTW, she doesn't make patient phone calls normally DURING her work schedule... she calls after she sees all her patients for the day. I know this because that is when she ALWAYS calls me for results. This was unusual for her. I knew she was worried before I even spoke to her. I called back and got a voicemail. (husband still panicking and wanting to rush over). I called a couple more times and got through to her. Instead of waiting for her to slowly break the news... I let her know I just saw the report and I know I had a mass on my kidney and that my liver and gallbladder were fine. This helped speed up her getting to the point... I needed a CT Scan and a referral to a specialist. She was at the same conclusion I was... it is a tumor and there is a good chance it is cancerous. I don't think she was going to say the "C" word yet... but after I mentioned it, she agreed. Now... my referrals always take a week. ALWAYS take a week to get back so I can schedule an appointment. So, I asked my husband if we can go for a walk somewhere. Well THAT was a disaster lol... because I got several calls from the referral lady and within an hour or so of my phone call to the NP about the results... I was running to the radiology office to pick up barium to drink for my CT scan on FRIDAY. Friday. The day I was supposed to be getting these results back, and now I am going in for a CT Scan already. Talk about FAST RESPONSE! The fact that she rushed this so much and managed to get me in to the radiologist office so soon just confirms how worried my NP really is, so that is totally stressful! Still don't know what specialist I will be seeing, but by the time I get that referral I will have results in hand from the scan, so that is good. On the plus side... I already know the rest of my abdominal organs are fine according to the Ultrasound. The CT scan will look more closely at all of it... but I don't have any reason to believe if it IS cancer that it metastasized. But now I have to gear up to drink a ton of barium (um... no clue how I will get this all in... I am only 6 months post op!). And now I have to deal with a tumor that could be cancerous and I might need a kidney partially or completely removed. Chemo is very unlikely, but radiation or other treatments might be needed. And on top of all that I still need an MRI for my L Knee because I might have a torn meniscus that might need surgery and definitely need physical therapy. And I am SUPPOSED to walk across Spain starting May 25th. Yay me. I thought I was THISCLOSE to being healthy again and all this **** happens! And how much you want to bet the Coronavirus hits my city hard right about the same time I need 1-2 more surgeries! Not afraid of the Coronavirus... except my immune system will be already under attack if I need a kidney removed!

This particular beard is in the bariatric store why isn't it good for you it has vitamins minerals all kinds of good stuff 🤔

You add something to your diary in order to get over 1k calories (the minimum) and finish your log, then go in and edit it to remove the calories so you get an accurate count. Not completing the diary doesn't affect your streak of logging or anything though. I did 1 year 3 months straight last time and I'm on 117 days since I entered the bariatric program and started logging again, and I've only completed it a few times. I always forget by the end of the day.

I found some good recipes off this site https://www.bariatricfoodie.com/category/bariatric-recipes/purees/

I realize this was a whole back but... That is more normal, ink blots are part of what a psychoanalyst does for therapy - you likely had an mmpi-2 (300+ items but takes just 45 min) since insurance companies want to see objective data with the report and that is the one recommended by the committee that sets the standards for Bariatric evaluations. 😀

AJ that's a slippery slope attitude. I know you're prob just meeting this challenge with your tongue in cheek humor, but it quickly turns around! I really hope you will seek out a trainer/nutritionist who understands bariatrics and lean gains. Cuz it isn't just a matter of going back to Fatty McFatterson food choices. Right? Add calories strategically. If you are getting the amount of protein you need to build muscle, and have enough carbs in your life to lend energy (if you're a carb burner), then add calories through adding healthy fats). Organize your meal events even if you aren't hungry. Cuz bottom line, to stop loss with a semi healthy metabolism, it will take very little extra calories (if you're not an endurance athlete or involved in lifting to gain strength). @BigViffer @BlueCrush@Healthy_life2 are all athletes and have figured out how to build muscle and stop weight loss! Maybe they'll hop in here with advice for you. Mine just "magically" stopped by adding in a day or two of higher cal eating (1200-1500cals), 2 days a week.

I actually was shocked with the insurance, it’s not through our regular health plan, its like an add-on that my husbands company has. Every procedure they cover is based on The Dr’s recommendation and not insurance guidelines. The only requirement is our deductible has to be met. It’s really a nice benefit. I was supposed to see Dr. Gorjala but he only sees patients on certain days. I was nervous about Dr. Lytle but ended up completely at ease. A little back story, I did not want the surgery, but all of my local doctors said I needed it. My BMI was only 32 I weighed 188 and am 5’0” and had been on weight watchers after a botched hysterectomy. I had gotten up to 201. I developed a large incisional hernia and no one would fix it until I was down to my ideal weight and weight watchers and gym was not doing it fast enough. My regular insurance would not cover it because my BMI was to low, I was only borderline diabetic, and no cardiac issues or high blood pressure. I was going to file a complaint with the health insurance and our insurance advocate told me about the program. Dr. Lytle reviewed my medical records and had to convince me that my local Drs were right and that I needed to have this surgery to get the hernia fixed. I just met with a local surgeon for the hernia, through the same program and found out how bad things really are, but because I had the surgery I can be fixed. All of my large and small intestines are outside of where they are supposed to be and I have no stomach wall so they need to rebuild it. I will lose my belly button. I live in Central Florida half way between Daytona and Orlando. My next surgery will be in Orlando at ORMC. Atlanta is huge and I do not miss driving around there. Thankfully we were staying in Sandy Springs around the corner from the hospital. We did travel to Centennial Park when we were there for consult. The traffic is horrible there so I can understand your concern. Lol. I want to wish you luck with everything. It sounds like you have been through a lot yourself. I know everyone at Bariatric Innovations will take great care of you! The trip was well worth it. I wanted Dr. Lytle to fix my hernia also and he agreed to do it, but I needed to consult with a local surgeon first. If it wasn’t so far I would have gone with Dr Lytle but because of the seriousness of the hernia I decided to go with a local surgeon to avoid all the traveling.

It's a process and journey. We all have to work at building new skills in this area. We are different people with new anatomies. So the old ways will not work, but changing the habits of a lifetime doesn't happen magically or overnight. But, I can reassure you that for most of us, this phase passes. You will still "have those days." But that's also why you should embrace this time and use it to your advantage to practice and develop new healthy habits. I call them Bari Healthy Life habits. You will never again have an opportunity as prime as your virgin WLS voyage where the restriction will be as strong as now, and your food aversions as high. Practice: 1. Pre-cut all your food into pencil eraser size pieces. 2. Use a small fork or baby spoon to eat. (I use an old shrimp cocktail fork when we're home eating. It's tiny!) 3. Only eat one pencil eraser size bite at a time. 4. Put your fork down and tuck your hands under your thighs. (Glance at a timer.) 5. Count your chews. Chew to a paste consistency. 6. Swallow. Wait 2-3 minutes. 7. Rinse and repeat. 8. Stop when you STOP feeling HUNGRY--not when you're full. Don't chase the full feeling. Eat ONLY the portion volume appropriate for your stage as provided by your doctor and RD. Don't exceed 1 cup of food volume on your BFD (Bariatric Forever Diet). *It's always better to try to do this at a dining table so you can really focus on how your food tastes, how it feels in your mouth, how full you are as you eat...it helps you develop mindfulness prompts. It also gives your body time to get the message to your brain, "Hey, dummeh, you've had enough."

I'm 3 weeks in now after my bariatric sleeve omg do I feel rough specially on mornings I'm bringing a lot of spit up I can't even take water EVERYTHING makes me feel sick its horrible really getting me down

Hey everyone! Congrats to all of you for making it this far!! I just got my surgery date: 29 Apr! I finished my insurance company's mandatory six month bariatric program on 12 Feb, received approval for surgery a few days later, and finally met with my surgeon today. When I picked up the NINE pre-/post-op prescriptions, it started to feel very real! But I'm so excited! Like all of you, this has been a long time coming. I've been struggling with my weight since 4th grade and have lost and gained the same 100lbs. at least five times. I'm so ready to start this new chapter of my life! A few details: Started Kaiser's six month bariatric program: 3 Sep 2019 Hospital: Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Springs, MD Surgery : VSG What are you worried about the most right now? For me, I think I'm dreading the two week pre-op liquid diet more than anything else!