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OK...I really hate to ask such a question but really need to know. I have been trying to prepare for my upcoming surgery by eating low carb foods, cutting out all soda, caffeine, and sugar. I have surprised myself and really done well with it all. I suppose I am just trying to make it all easier on myself after surgery when I'm sure it's gonna be the hardest. Ok...the weird thing, now my poo is solid black. I do have a hiatal hernia so maybe that is playing some part in it. Should I be alarmed or is this just the diet change? I'm sorry, I know this is TMI but just kinda worried. Thanks in advance and happy losing everyone!!

It's going ok, I haven't taken any of the pain medication, I'm sure that would have helped but pain hasn't been that bad really. Once in a while I get a throbbing from my stomach that lasts about 5 - 10 seconds and it hurts pretty good at that point but doesn't last long. Sorry if this is TMI but I have not had a bowel movement yet, probably not totally uncommon seeing as how I only drink protein and water right now, this is also one of the reasons I didn't take pain meds because I'm trying to avoid any constipation. I have to take the shots in my stomach for 8 more days but they aren't that bad, small needles. So far so good just been sore and was pretty tired the first day out.

after i eat like three bites or so, (i am on week 3, which is slowly transitioning me from mushy to solids) it gets stuck in my throat. this may be TMI and I am sorry, but everytime I burp I feel as if the food is stuck and starts coming up, then I swallow it again. it’s very annoying and it always happens, but i feel like i am not full. any remedies?

It took me a few days to get the guts to post this because frankly it is TMI, but I am now Day 4 of my bowel movements being all diarrhea. Is that normal or a cause for concern? Thanks and sorry for the topic lol. P.s. What is “dumping”. I have seen that term a few times. Does it have to do with this topic? Thanks!

I have an IUD, and it's a love/hate relationship. I love the fact that it's a type of birth control that I don't really have to think about and it's good for 5 years. The downside, in 2 months I've had to have 3 IUD's put in because yes, your uterus can expell them. Each time they were inserted they did an ultrasound to check for positioning and they were fine. My uterus is just angry and doesn't like them. If you get one in, make sure you take some type of pain reliever, because it does hurt going in. TMI they do the speculum, then clean your uterus and vagina, and then they insert it. It feels weird for a little bit, but after a day or two you get used to it. The other downside is you either bleed/spot for a few days and you're done. Or you can be like me and bleed for 60 days (my gyno said the bleeding can last for up to 6 months). I don't get my period anymore, but I do get random cramps like my period is coming but it doesn't show up. So it has its good and bad, it's all dependent on you. Have you thought about the Depo shot? A shot in your arm that you get every month?

This is going to seem stupid, but I'm going to ask it anyway. How do you poop when you're on a liquid diet? I'm VERY regular and quite satisfied when it comes to my BM habits (sorry if TMI, but I've got it down to an art after years of dealing with IBS) and the idea of having to go to work all plugged up or with raging runs doesn't exactly appeal to me. Do things normalize after surgery and get nice and regular again?

Day 4 went well. I had my 2 hour pre-op meeting and my H&P with my surgeon yesterday. After 18 months of waiting, the process is suddenly FLYING BY! I go in for my pre-surgery testing on Wednesday May 2nd at 9am and then the endoscopy is Friday May 4th at 7 a.m. Then surgery Thursday May 10th. I got all five Optifast products down plus 2 servings of jello and 96 oz of water. Not bad considering I was at the surgeon’s office practically all day. I’ve dropped 5 lbs in 4 days which is great! The only bad news is that I had my first cheat on Optifast. I had 5 Fritos. Not five SERVINGS, but 5 chips. And I felt AWFUL after. First was the guilt of cheating and second I just felt bad physically. That will be the LAST and ONLY time I cheat! Ugh! Now for the TMI portion of my day. Initially I had terrible diarrhea on the first 3 days of the Optifast. Now I’m entering the constipation phase it seems. I’m going out tomorrow to buy some benefiber. I’ve already ordered my flavorless Unjury protein powder as my nutritionist recommended using it with basically everything during the first 4 months after surgery. Handy that you can mix it in with basically anything. I haven’t been taking any vitamins since starting the Optifast since it provides 100% daily values of everything I need. But when I go back for my pre-op tests on Wednesday I’ll be picking up my Celebrate Hair, Skin and Nails formula, Optisource multi chewables and an extra 27 Optifast shakes. I’ve decided to continue with those shakes for convenience sake. I know I’m not going to want to be making shakes myself right after surgery. I guess that’s it. Not too nervous since I was kept so busy today, but definitely having weird dreams regarding the diet and surgery. Since what really gets me nervous is the anesthesia part, I think being put under for the endoscopy will help alleviate that. I hope so anyway. Oh! And I got all my orders from Amazon today! Weight Loss Surgery For Dummies, toddler plates, cups, bowls and silverware and a set of books to read while I’m in the hospital and also recouperating. I want to be up and walking as much as possible, but from what I’ve read on here, some people seem to be really worn out for a week or two after surgery and I honestly just can’t watch that much tv (although it’s been recommended by friends I binge on Stanger Things since I’m a loser who hasn’t watched it yet lol) Anyway, I hope everyone with May surgeries are doing well. I haven’t been able to find any twins date of surgery wise, but hopefully I’ll be able to get advice and encouragement from those who have already gone through this. HW: 311 CW: 262 SW: We’ll see on May 10!

Okay, so I have never had hemorrhoids prior to surgery that were bothersome. I have had 2 children so yes I have them. So now every time I go poop I am in horrible pain because of the hard stool and the hemorrhoids. It took me 7 hours to poop today and I was so sick to my stomach I couldn't work. I felt like I gave birth to my 3rd child. What are people doing for hemorrhoids now that the stool is hard. I was in tears I was in so much pain. I am still bleeding from when I did finally go. I can't sit on a chair without being in pain. Thanks in advance for constructive advice.

I realize this might be in the TMI category, but is there a difference between vomiting before and after surgery? I would think it wouldn't be as "violent" because there;s not as much tissue involved and perhaps it wouldn't hurt as much. I'd like your thoughts, experiences on this so I can be prepared as I start my journey~ I absolutely HATE throwing up, especially with abdominal surgery!

I am having the hardest time with protein. I had some stomach issues with protein before my VSG, but now it happens every time. I drink my protein shake and before I am even half way done, I am in the bathroom with severe stomach cramps and diarrhea. I’ve tried three different brands now and it’s all the same. I’ve even tried the powdered with lactose free milk. Any suggestions? Age: 37 Height: 5’6 BMI: 37 VSG: 4/16/18 GW: 160 MFP: Fit4LifeAR

I got my surgery, sleeved on 4/25/18. Also had a hiatal hernia repaired at the same time. My Dr, said I came thru everything w/flying colors. The surgery itself took two and a half hours, I was then in recovery for about an hour, then taken on up to my room from there. I had terrible pain the first day, but learned that most of it was gas. They gave me Percocet for the pain, and I was nauseous so they gave me Zofran. I did not wake up with a drain tube or any pain pumps hooked up to my stomach. I didn’t have a catheter either thank goodness. Just my IV that they had put in my left hand before surgery started. I hadn’t been in my room(which was a beautiful large private room, with a nice view of the park below)) for even five minutes, when the nurses came in and started introducing themselves, and told me it’s time to get up out of the bed, go to the restroom, pee in a little plastic urine catcher that was in the toilet,(it looked like a little plastic white hat/ with numbers on it) so they could measure my output of urine, and then when I got thru in the restroom, it was time to take a walk! I was slower than molasses on the walking, I was so very sore and still not at myself. My husband walked with me and I pushed my IV cart around and we walked about 30 steps before I gave out. We went back into my room, and there was a nurse there to take my vitals, and afterwards she helped me to set up in a chair. I really wanted to just get to lay back down again, but realized soon enough that my nurse was right, sitting up, along w/ the walking would help relieve some of the gas pains. I know, this is probably TMI, but the more you can fart or burp, the better you’ll feel after surgery. Relieve yourself of as much of that gas that u possibly can. I sat in the chair for almost 2 hours and then they let me get back in the bed and gave me a heated blanket because I was freezing cold! Then... came the food tray... Oh geesh I thought! What the heck is this, and all these little miniature cups too?!The cups had a mark on them that said 30mL. They told me to pour my food into these little plastic cups, and to start sipping very slowly. The food was all liquids, broth, jello, tea, watered down apple juice, bottled water. and decaf black coffee. All of the warm liquids I tried made me horribly sick, but the cold ones I could tolerate. They wanted me to finish off 1 little cup every 15 minutes during every hour of being awake. And let me tell you, I couldn’t. I tried so hard to, but you feel as full as a tick and don’t even wanna look at any kind of food, at least I didn’t anyways. It took a lot of doing, but I managed to get down 8 if those little cup fulls of liquids, before bedtime, which I fell asleep about midnight, and seriously thought my stomach was going to explode. Fast forward to morning:: All of my nurses really have been super kind during the entire stay. I didn’t get too much sleep that night, and my husband didn’t either because of all the hospital sounds, machines beeping etc. So hubby got me up and started walking me up n down the halls. I felt like quitting but he was cheering me on the whole way. [emoji173]️ on our walks, we visited the nurses station, and they gave me a popsicle and a cup of ice. Wow what a treat! I couldnt wait to get back to my room to try them. Back inside my room, there is a nurse waiting there for me to give me a shot into my stomach to help prevent blood clots. It stung pretty bad, but didn’t hurt as much as the gas pains. I continued to walk with my hubby periodically, and get my liquids down me. The ice chips were wonderful, and the popsicle was good too, but it was hard to take bites off of it, so my husband got it off the stick, and crushed it up for me in a little cup and I ate it slowly with a spoon. Heavens! [emoji173]️ That was wonderful! Oh, and while you get to lay down in your bed, you most likely will have these little grayish blue velcro wrap around things on your legs that gently squeeze them every so often to further prevent blood clots too. These felt really good and relaxing to me. Fast forward even more, I am now home. I got to come home about 2:00 pm, one day after my surgery. I am still having a lot of gas pains, but am taking gas x to help with that. I’m still up walking at least every 2-3 hours, for about 5 minutes at a time now —snail pace but active. My dr. sent me home with zofran, to take one dissolving pill twice a day, and also sent me home with a script for Percocet with 0 refills on either med. I go back to see him in 2 weeks for a checkup and weigh in. I’m gonna get off of here for awhile and try to rest for a bit. I hope this has helped anyone who hasn’t had their surgery yet, I know it’s a really long post. I will update later on today. [emoji171]

So I'm down from 337 to 196. And that's been great. But there are constant adjustments. Some of these adjustments are... awkward. This is straight up male TMI info coming up so you have been warned. For instance, my entire adult life, my uh, business, let's call it, fit into underwear and pants a certain way, and sat a certain way. It was weird enough when I had to switch sizes on underwear over and over, then switch styles, finally settling on medium sized Adidas boxer briefs that manage to keep everything where I'm used to/comfortable with it, even without the help of a bunch of excess body fat pushing it outward... while I am standing anyway. But the latest thing--and I am truly sorry for bringing this up, but where the heck else am I going to talk about this?--is that it turns out that the change in my body shape now means I am sitting on my family jewels. Well, not on them, but they rest on the chair/seat now. OK, well not on the chair, but resting much lower than I am accustomed, such they they feel like they are. They used to sort of rest on my fat/splayed out thighs. This is truly weird and I'm still not used to it. It's making me think I need to find another kind of underwear again.

Ugh don't you get cranky when the scale doesn't deliver?? ((hugs)) It SUCKS! Well so I'm now back down to 195.4lbs. So not quite back to where I was, but enough reassurance that I'm not on a road to regain to let me calm the hell down, breathe, and keep adding back the calories and carbs. LOL! I was still a pound up, but really felt like I had full bowels. So I took 4oz of mag cit yesterday and low and behold...I gave birth to a bouncing 1 lb pile-o-poop. Sorry TMI, but I FEEL so much better in my gut. I can almost tell now, when it's building. So I think it was a combination of the 2: fluid and poo fairy needing to make a call. This week was start of Week 9 and I only lost 0.6lbs. (UUUUGGGHHH! I really have to stop the "only" sh*t! ) That happened exactly 3 weeks ago, then had 2 really great weeks following 2 sucky weeks. Are you seeing any pattern to your weekly losses? I made this nifty chart in Excel that self populates as I add data: The avocado "toast" was really delicious! You have to love GG Bran Crisp Breads or Wasa Crackers though. I'm a weird one that loves both of them! I'm hoping to start nuking my colon with fiber to keep motility up and will be able to decrease my use of Miralax and Colace. I hate taking those meds. This morning I will try to take a pic. I'm having peanut butter cheese "toast" with Granny Smith apple. I'm shooting for around 20-30g net carbs, and am gonna allow as much as 50g total as long as there is MUCHO fiber included! Also, pretty interesting, but my tummy is self-limiting me now and cals are fairly naturally falling around 675-750 cals per day. I've no doubt I could add back some fat and get to 800-850 easily. But why? If I'm happy and satisfied...why do I need more than 700-750? Answers please? (I think I'm getting plenty of fat to allow assimilation of vitamins from food and supplements...theoretically.) The reason I think to keep fat low is that if I'm in ketosis which I am, the body burns fat for fuel and in the presence of dietary fat, it switches to consume dietary fat for fuel first before re-accessing fat stores. So hmmm. Just more deep thoughts by Jack Handy.

Often, wls people have an on/ off record of eliminating. I think that means occasionally, ahem, things get very firm. And unusually larger. At the risk of tmi... some of us need a tool to “break up” these eliminations to flush. I have exchanged info and learned: some use chopsticks (easier to toss), tongs, skewers, plastic utensils..... you get the idea ... use your resources and happy flushing! ( what a strange post!)

I had my gastric bypass on 4/16 as well. My roughest obstacle has been the muscle stitch and trying to get out of bed or a deep chair. Coughing was agony! But today, 4/21 is much much better. I walked and walked and walked and I think that it helped me progress. I did not take any prescribed pain medication either. I am a recovering alcoholic (3yrs[emoji5]) and in rehab they caution against any addictive substances so I declined. I did take adult liquid Tylenol when I got home Wednesday night and Thursday through the day. Yesterday I walked through the pain and feel so great today I have not had any issues with getting liquids down, it just takes forever[emoji13]. I have had lots of (TMI ALERT) watery dark bowel movements. The Dr. office said to call if they look like tar. They don’t so I’m not worried about it. One last comment, I have experienced a huge change in my energy. I was always so tired every morning before I had surgery, and was expecting to be very tired while recovering. The opposite is true. I find that I have lots of energy! This is good and bad....... we are getting possession of another home we purchased tomorrow and there are sooooo many things that need to be done, and I cannot do any of it. I want to, and feel like I can, but I know I am asking for a surgery if I start lifting or moving. We had our procedures done on the same day and I will look for your posts to see how you are coming along and cheer on your successes. Good luck! My weight day before surgery was 245. I am 5’7. I am not going to weigh myself until Monday. 1 week out. I know I could get crazy watching the scale and a don’t want to get fixated on numbers.

TMI warning!!! I'm 14 months post-op today and for the last 8 or 9 months I clog a toilet at least 3 times a month because my BMs are unusually large compared to pre-op. I'm not talking amount, I'm talking size. I eat Fiber One nearly everyday just to keep things moving, but a week before to a week after my period I find that I've become the Chronic Toilet Clogger. This gets embarrassing especially at work because we only have 2 staff toilets for 30 some people. I don't know what to do about this! Am I eating too much fiber or something?

TMI alert: I pee all the time! It's so annoying. I'm drinking probably 100+ ounces of fluid a day. I try to hold it and go every hour, but today I had to go every 10 minutes. I felt pregnant again. How about you guys? Sent from my SM-G920T using BariatricPal mobile app

I’m looking forward to: Being in more pics instead of hiding behind the camera. Not doing some freakish yoga move to take care of bathroom needs....I know...TMI not constantly pulling on my shirts and adjusting my bras because the fit is never right. Buying clothes in regular misses sizes instead of plus (or just giving up and buying men’s shirts since they run bigger) Not having to cram into a airplane seat or ask for a seatbelt extension. Sliding into a new pair of jeans and feeling like I’m rocking em! Buying pretty lingerie and driving my husband wild - WIN, WIN! Having more energy to exercise.

I am now 4 days out and struggling to get my water and protein in. I can’t handle the taste of the powdered protein, it makes me gag. I was able to get 40 oz of water yesterday but only half of a protein shake. Today I’ve had one protein shake and hope to have close to 60 ounces of water. Each day will get better, and I know I will feel so much better when I can have a premade shake on Monday. They don’t have the aftertaste like the powdered ones do. My doc really wants us to focus on water this week though, and says that we have enough of a store to last one week, if we can’t get the protein down this week. I’m just doing what I can at this point. Also, TMI, but I’ve had watery bowel movements yesterday and today. That has been less than pleasant. LoL Age: 37 Height: 5’6 BMI: 37 VSG scheduled for 4/16/18 GW: 160 MFP: Fit4LifeAR

Bone broth sounds really good, I will have to give it a try. So an update: Day 9 of only clear liquids (protein shakes, water, powerade zero, sugar free popsicles and jello) I am taking all of my vitamins and drinking at least 60g of protein daily while consuming at least 64 oz of fluids a day. I'm not sure if it's because of "that particular week" sorry, TMI, but I am feeling weak and dizzy. I'm not even hungry so much. Sometimes I feel I could eat an entire tub of cottage cheese, mushrooms, olives, etc. (Note: I HATE ALL THAT STUFF) but I'd be willing to eat it. But it's not so much the hunger like I said. It mostly comes and goes and is mostly head hunger whenever I see something pop up on screen. Okay, some of it is actual hunger. But I have no clue why I am so dizzy and weak. If I am taking all my vitamins, protein, and water, why am I still so weak?

This is majorly TMI....but seriously, folks....a bulb syringe and some warm soapy water....just a squirt or two...makes a world of difference. No straining, no cramps. Kinda gross for some folks, but I'm a little clinical about these things...and the instant relief without side effects makes it worth it to me.

Warning, TMI Lol! I’m just wondering if anyone else has been through the same thing and what was the outcome? I had the sleeve on 3/26. I am three weeks out and on the puréed stage. Since I started this stage last week, my stomach has been a mess. It’s making loud gurgling noises I’ve never heard before and I’ve had diarrhea (I’m sorry but it’s true!) for close to a week. Anyone else have this issue? What was the outcome? Yes I called the Dr and they told me to try Imodium for a couple of days. Yesterday was day 1 and no relief. I am calling them again today.

I am about 50 lbs down from my highest weight and about a month post surgery. My libido went from 0 to 500. Sometimes I think my water bottle is cute. Orgasms are through the roof. Three times a day at least. Sorry for the TMI. I can't wait to start dating again. But for now it's spanking the rabbi like an imprisoned Iraqi prisoner.

For the first 5-7 days after I got home I had diarrhea which isn't like me. I had to get my husband to give me a suppository in the hospital. Today, my bm is hard and looks like dirt. TMI, but when I wipe it looks like I've wiped the ground. I bought some smooth move tea before surgery and I'm going to have to drink some soon. It helped.

TMI response but my BMs have been darker than they were pre surgery and my surgeons office said it was fine.