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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.

Christmas drinks cooking yesterday. This time Brie bites. Easy to make & yummy. Quarter teaspoon grain mustard, piece of Brie, 1/2 teaspoon cranberry sauce in puff pastry, bake then sprinkle with some pieces of grilled prosciutto. Went to what is supposed to be this excellent restaurant last week. Been wanting to go for a while but thought they only had a degustation menu & recently discovered they did have a la carte. Chose John Dory fillet with beurre blanc sauce split with wasabi leaf oil & asparagus. Started off okay but am still looking for the asparagus - extremely finely diced & barely a teaspoon. Then the third slice of the fillet was super salty & couldn’t eat it. So disappointed. My friends enjoyed their meals so at least there was that. Oh & it cost $58 (about $39 US). Crazy prices here now. Last year it would have been 10-15 Aust $ less.

Obviously, I'm not a medical professional so take anything I say with a grain of salt. Tbh, during this weight loss phase, I would try to stay focused on losing weight. Continue to monitor your eating challenges, but there will be time to sort that out after you've lost the weight. As long as you're getting sufficient nutrition and calories, you'll be fine for now. Do your best to meet the protein goal, but if you fall short, it's not the end of the world. Listen to your body, and feed it what it can handle. I'm 19 mo post-op, and even now, solid foods can be a challenge. I generally still eat a soft(ish) diet. It works for me. Obviously, if you are continually getting sick, feel bad, and/or are unable to eat enough to meet your needs, that's an urgent problem. But if you can handle it, give it time and stay focused.

So...I'm struggling with how to answer this because I want to give you helpful information, but I still have questions. I guess I'll jump right in and see how it goes. 1) You started off at a lower weight to begin with, so your body is likely at the point now where it's at it's healthiest. As of right now, you're 5'5" and 136 pounds with a bmi of 22. You're exactly where you should be. If you lose 15 more pounds, you'll weight 121 pounds and have a bmi of 20. On paper, that's still healthy. But my concern is you're becoming addicted to losing the weight and even though you're exactly where you should be (and could even gain 10 pounds and still be where you should to be) you'll panic and possibly go about things in an unhealthy way to drop those pounds. 2) Were there other reasons besides your weight that led you to getting the surgery? Did you have any comorbidities such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, etc? You didn't mention that. My fear is, if you only wanted to drop weight and your bmi was 33 to begin with, and now you're wanting to continue to drop even though you're being told you look "stick thin" (and you're in the healthy range now but still want to go lower), that this might have more to do with the number on the scale than getting healthy. 3) Stalls are normal, and happen all the time. The fact that you haven't had one until 4 months out is actually kind of surprising. They do break on their own, but honestly, you may lose little weight going forward (and what you DO lose will likely come off slowly) since you're already well within the healthy and normal range and your body feels it's happy at its new set point. 4) Your body likely thinks it's in starvation mode, based on how you're working out and lifting and what you're eating. The harder the workouts, the more calories you need. Prioritize protein first above all else, then veggies, then carbs and healthy fats. But you definitely need to increase your calorie intake. This isn't necessarily advice for dropping more weight (although that tends to happen when things like this go on) but for healthy purposes. If your body thinks it's starving, it'll hold on to every single calorie and bit of fat. And it'll eat away at muscle before fat just to make sure you survive. So my suggestion is to increase your calories. I don't do heavy lifting, but I DO do weight training, and on those days, I go up to 1400 calories. Core and strength training, I go up to 1300 calories. Cardio I go up to 1200 calories. Non work out days I eat around 1000 calories. 5) You didn't mention what surgery you had, but I'm assuming it's the sleeve. If I may ask, what made you choose having surgery versus doing anything else for weight loss? Have you tried changing your eating habits before, did you try medication, or did you go right to surgery? How have you changed the way you eat, and what you eat, since the surgery? How much fluid are you taking in every day? How much protein and carbs are you taking in each day? Are you taking your vitamins every day? How many days per week are you working out (should give yourself 2 days off ideally, but for sure at least 1).

Agreed with what the others said. Be careful lifting weight, including the grandkids, before you are ready. It just takes overdoing it once to cause a hernia, requiring additional surgery. Other than that, the movement is a good thing, but listen to when your body says its tired. Balancing exercise and rest is very important the first month or two. Would you rather have a little more rest now periodically through the day while still getting somethings done, or overdo it and force yourself into a situation where you have to have repair surgery and risk several weeks on bed rest getting nothing done in the future? To prevent overdoing it, look into the Pomodoro Technique. Basically set a timer to do a task for "x" number of minutes, and then rest for "y" number of minutes. Early on, you may want 10-15 minutes of activity followed by 30-45 minutes of rest. Then as you progress, shift more time into activity and reduce the rest time, but its most effective keeping the entire cycle under 1 hour total. As far as the internal pain goes, its likely its still gas trapped and built up. Take Gas-X, and when you're walking around, do exercises with your arms lifted or over your head. I'm not sure exactly, but it has something to do with the blood flow being distributed to all of your limbs and helping breakdown and expel the gas quicker. I would have it go from my lower left side to up in my shoulders, and it was just a discomfort I couldn't shake. That movement and the medicine helped to break it up and would give me a few hours of relief.

I woke this morning to the sound of a snowplow in my driveway and a snowblower. Not sure who my good Samaritan is yet, but it was 5:30 AM. I normally would go back to bed and sleep till 9 or 10. When I was young..er, till noon. Before WLS I always woke up tired no matter how many hours of sleep I had. Anyone who knows me is aware I am not a morning person. Don't call early unless it's an emergency etc. LOL Of course, early on after surgery, I was tired. I had major surgery. But now?? I can't believe how good I feel and waking up rested is nothing short of a miracle. YMMV. I made sure to stay hydrated, take my daily vitamins, drink my protein and move post op. And rest. Let your body heal. I did have a time when I felt exhausted and found I was low on iron. I switched vitamins with added iron and that made a huge difference. All I know is that WLS does wayyyy more than just effect food restriction. It rewires the brain, resets your body fat setpoint and reverses a lot of co-morbidities. 👏 And I never would have guessed I would become a morning person. LOL GL @Tamika James , speedy recovery and boundless energy to you!!

Finishing up my breakfast and then it's time to get ready to go back to work FINALLY!!! WooHoo!!! It's about time. I hate not working. So glad I was cleared yesterday to go back starting today. Oh, and I'm now down to 233 pounds. I'm 33 pounds away from my goal weight!!!! I started off at 421 pounds when this whole journey began. I've lost a total of 188 pounds from my highest weight. I've lost a total of 155 pounds since my surgery in May 2022 (I was 388 pounds on surgery day). Bariatric surgery, changing my relationship with food, changing my diet, working out and changing up my routines, all of it is why I'm here now. 33 more pounds to go, ya'll!!! I'm in a size 16/18 in clothes (down from 28/30), I'm in a size 6 1/2 ring (down from size 10), I'm in a size 10 shoe (down from a size 11), and I wear 18" necklaces (instead of the 22" and 24" necklaces I wore before). Yes, I've had complications. Yes, I've had several surgeries. But things were found that I never would have known about. Silent killers, they're called. Has it been annoying and painful and frustrating? ABSOLUTELY. Would I do it all again anyway? ABSOLUTELY. I've STILL gained so much more than I've lost. I have 1 more surgery (my hysterectomy) and then I'm completely done. And honestly, I'm still way way healthier than I ever was before. I only wish I would have just done the bypass to begin with and skipped the sleeve. But then again, like I said, the conditions I didn't know about wouldn't have been found without the complications from the sleeve that led to all my procedures. Everything happens for a reason. I firmly believe that. And I'm almost on the other side of all this, so I can speak into existence that nothing else will go wrong, things are looking up, and I'm getting my life back but as an even healthier and better version.

Hi Carrielee - welcome! I had VSG surgery just about a week before my 40th birthday this past November. I had sworn in the years leading up to it that I would NEVER have any kind of WLS, but here I am! If I could have done it on my own, I would have - I needed help to improve my life, because nothing I tried on my own was working, and I tried it all. I had sleep apnea, insulin resistance, and bp that bounced back and forth between hypertensive and high-normal. I felt like I was going to die after climbing up a flight of stairs, and I was passing up good opportunities at my job because I didn't want to walk 5-10 minutes to another building and get all sweaty. I had never had surgery of any kind before (other than getting my wisdom teeth out, but it's not like I was intubated for that), so the thought of getting put under and having my innards poked at was rather intimidating. I would do it over again in a heartbeat. Like @catwoman7 said, I'd do it every year if I had to! I never needed to use my prescription pain meds post-op. I actually take the "long way" to my car at the end of my workdays now. My husband and I routinely walk to the front of our neighborhood and back, whereas previously, I hated just walking the 0.10 mile to our mailbox. My blood pressure has actually been almost LOW ever since waking up from surgery, my IBS-D has essentially disappeared (and I had days where I couldn't be too far from a restroom before), and I'm a little less sweaty. My knees feel INFINITELY better, and they're a little less noisy when I bend down. Now, you do have some health conditions that could make any surgery a little more risky (fatty liver, history of PE especially), but your doctor will review your history and will probably have you do quite a few tests and things to make sure it's safe for you to have surgery. I had some weird, random heart palpitations for darn near 20 years that were dismissed as "nothing major", but my doctor insisted that I do a 48-hour Holter monitor just to be sure. When that didn't show anything, they had me do a monitor for a whole month! They actually figured out the cause (occasional premature atrial contractions, or PACs, which apparently darn near everybody has at some point - some of us just feel them more than others), and cleared me for surgery. Ask your surgeon all the questions you can think of. I watched YouTube videos for months leading up to my surgery just to see what others' experiences were. I crawled through this forum extensively. I read the binder my program gave me over and over and over. I started following tons of WLS accounts on Insta. Do whatever you need to do to ease your mind a bit, and know that there is a large community to back you up! Trust your gut and go with what you know you need to do, be that surgery or something else. No matter what you choose, we'll be here for you.

Long rant ahead sorry ... So, I'm slightly angry (understatement). I saw my french primary care doctor yesterday. She's never been great to be honest. I've been seeing her for 6ish years. 5 years ago I gained over 80lbs pounds in a year and a half going from 118lbs (that had been my standard adult weight since my teenage years with a BMI of 19) to 200lbs ( BMI 32.3) after taking antidepressants. I stopped the antidepressants after a year because the weight gain was making me more miserable than I was being slightly depressed and thin. I have been struggling to loose the weight since... loosing and regaining the same 15-20 lbs again and again. As I've mentioned before, I have slight cérébral palsy - nothing too bad but enough to make walking pretty painful on my legs when I hit over about 130lbs and to make me generally clumbsy - I also lack gross motor coordination and don't have the best fine motor skills either... I can't really do any sports that require coordination and can only really ride a bicycle in a flat straight line and it takes a lot of mental effort for me to keep my balance, crowds freak me out because I'm scared of tripping and falling and don't even mention jumpy little dogs, my nemisis as my balance is so precarious. However I've always made do and It's never stopped me having an enjoyable fufilling life and a pretty decent career. My weight gain really really made me suffer, emotionally of course, my self esteem, my self worth etc ( I live in Paris which is the thinnist city in a thin country ... and it's not a place where people are kind to overweight people at all - I checked and the mean BMI of a Parisienne woman is 22.3 - so when you hit a BMI of 30 here you're really a fat outlier and are basically scorned in all public spaces ). It also made me physically miserable and I lost the little flexibilty I had - constant pain when walking - loss of gross motor skills, trouble showering standing up at 30 years old, not being able to put my socks on etc etc. For the last 4 years I have been to my Primary care doctor about 5 times asking for a referal to a nutritionist - she's always refused as told me "but it's simple, you just need to eat less and move more, it's not magic, No need to waste money on a nutritionist if you have no willpower "No **** sherlock! She has no idea the willpower it takes to get out of bed at 200lbs with cerebral palsy when you feel like your legs are litterally going to snap, when your feet are burning with weight stress induced neuropathic pain. In January I finally cracked after a lot of introspection and thought and booked my VSG for February in Turkey. I've now lost 35lbs since my preop diet so in just under 2 months. I already feel a lot better, the pain when I'm walking is lessening, I'm fitting back into the "second round" of fat clothes I got myself. So I walked into her office yesterday ( I had the intention of "fessing up" to having had a VSG and asking her for iron supplement ideas as I'm still being sick when I try and take iron ) She took one look at me and said "ah, you've finally found your willpower, loose another 20kg (40 pounds) and you'll be an attractive young woman again" I had a surge of red rage inside me, I kept my calm, but didn't tell her about the surgery, I just smiled and told her I needed a refferal to a dermatologist for a mole on my face and left. I'm never going back to see her again. I spoke to my physical therapist on the phone this morning and he sort of helped he said "can I be unprofessional ? Honestly, qu'elle aille se faire foutre, (she can go f*ck herself)" Lets find you another doctor." My physical therapist knew about the surgery, as did my orthopedic surgeon and booth agreed that with my CP anything is better than being even slighty overweight and that the surgury was worth the risk as they've both seen me loose my mobilité over the last few years and has seen how its affected me. They said that if I could afford to go private abroad I should because If not I'd have to jump through hoops for years in france because my BMI (32) wouldn't have been considered high enough as a stand alone. So yeah... this weekend I find myself another doctor who's not a fatphobic arsehole and has a minimum of human compassion. And for the iron I'm just going to go and ask directly at the pharmacy what the have to propose. Sorry that was long but I just had to get it out, I'm slowly realising all the **** I've put up with because of my weight these last years and I am ANNNNGRYYYY!!!! Hope everyone is having an okay hump day!

4 weeks, 3 days Sorry for the delay in posting. The first week after I got home I slept a lot, night and day. Eating and drinking enough is hard when you sleep so much, so I haven't been meeting my goal of 64oz fluid and 100gm of protein, but I've been getting at least 48oz fluid and at least 60-80gm of protein. My protein oatmeal with extra protein added and my Pure Protein Bars with 19-21gm of protein is a huge chunk of that. 3 weeks in, after sleeping most of the day my body decided it was done with that, and since I'd just slept all day, it chose to stay awake at night. I've been trying to get my sleep pattern under control, but when I went to bed at 10:30 I awoke at 1:24am refreshed from my nap and last night I went to bed just after midnight and woke up at 4am and wasn't able to get back to sleep. I think this time I'll be able to stay awake all day though, so I'm hoping to sleep through the night tonight. I've still been having a hard time with my diet goals since I am trying to sleep at night. If I didn't have the luxury of working at home on my own schedule, I might not be having such a hard time sleeping because I'd be forced to a regular schedule. My husband has had his reservations, but has been supportive through all this because I promised I'd take care of myself. When I feel bad for being gone so long and now sleeping on the couch instead of snuggling with him, he tells me that I've just had surgery and I'm healing, sleep when my body tells me to sleep, and if the couch is more comfortable than sleeping reclined in bed, sleep there. At least I'm spending a few hours snuggling with him at night now. A couple days after retuning home I took my surgical tape off and discovered that I'd pulled a couple stitches. Remember those painful sneezes? I'm pretty sure that's when it happened. I have mighty, full body sneezes that sometimes makes my arm go numb and always said I'll probably die because I sneezed while driving. The wound didn't reopen. There was no bleeding or seeping, there were just larger scabs and one had a tacky feel. The scar in that area in front is going to be uglier than the nice thin scar in the back. This isn't the surgeons fault and nothing would have been different if I'd been there for a follow-up and he took the tape off. I'm waiting for the last scab to fall off before I start using the scar gel and massaging the scar. I have been concerned about the puffy area just above the scar across the front. I told myself it's probably just inflammation. They tell you not to judge the way you look because you won't see the final results for 6 months to a year, but it's hard. When you look at before and after pictures, the after pictures are long enough after for the inflammation to be gone. I went to a friend's commitment ceremony 2 days ago and another friend there had a lower body lift and BBL here in the states with one of the best surgeons (they have more money than me). She had her surgery 10 days after mine and she has that too, so I feel better. To summarize how I felt moving around week by week: Week 1 was difficult getting in and out of bed and it was painful. Week 2 I had the roll and push method down pat so it was easier to get up and down from bed and I could move around better, but when I'd first get up I'd walk more hunched over and this was when I had the really painful sneezes. It was easy to not push myself and to remember not to lift things or bend down because I could feel the pain in my stitches. I was very itchy. Week 3 I was able to move easier and could reach for things, but I could still feel it pull at the stitches, but it was more discomfort than painful so I was having to remind myself not to lift things and to not twist. This is when the itching was at its worst. Week 4 I'm getting stir crazy because I am still not supposed to drive and I promised my husband I'd take care of myself, which means following doctor's orders even if I think I'm OK to drive. Because of the mini BBL he did, I'm not supposed to drive for 4 weeks, then for 2 weeks only short distances "if I have to drive". I was moving normal, but I could still feel it pull at the stitches, but not really uncomfortable, just a pulling sensation. I still itched really bad, but it wasn't as constant. Now I don't really feel any pain except now that I'm sleeping without the pillows and my hips are on the bed, I am not sleeping on my right side because the incision is still a little tender when sleeping with weight on it there. Thankfully I can sleep on my left side and it doesn't hurt. Of course, I haven't slept more than 4 hours that way yet. I was supposed to wear the compression garment 24/7 except when showering for 4 weeks, then for 4 weeks I can sleep without it. I cheated and slept without my compression garment and drove a night early. It was really nice to snuggle with my husband without it even if it was from on top of pillows and just for a little bit because I couldn't sleep. I snuggled lying on 2 thick pillows with my hip/butt between them because of the mini BBL. After talking to my friend who had her lower body lift and BBL here, I'm rebelling a little bit. She was told she could sit on soft furniture without a pillow and sleep in bed without pillows keeping pressure off her butt. I'm still obeying my doctors orders regarding sitting because I can't find an entry on Google supporting that you can sit on soft furniture, but after talking to her I decided to sleep without the pillows under me. I have a thick Temper Pedic Memory Foam pad and REALLY want to snuggle with my hubby and sleep normally. I sleep on my side and he didn't transfer fat to my hips, that's where he took it from. As mentioned above, I can't sleep on my right because it's still tender there when sleeping on it. Of note regarding my breast lift/implants. I don't talk about them because they haven't hurt at all until recently. I get twinges now at the lower scar. I've had implants implanted, removed, and implanted again, so 3 surgeries and the scar tissue at the bottom of my breast is pretty thick and now that the incision is healed I need to start massaging it to break that scar tissue up. The first time I had implants (2006) it did hurt. I had to lean to the side to get one hand wet, then lean to the other side to get the other wet, then rinse the soap off the same way because leaning forward hurt, and it took almost a year before I didn't look like I had super pecs (they sit high when they are new). I'm assuming it didn't hurt this time and they have already settled because the skin didn't need to stretch. Maybe the signals from the incision from the lower body lift overrode anything my breasts might have wanted to tell me as well. When I hit 6 weeks and "can drive", I'm going to drive to Missouri. My Mother-In-Law has cancer of the esophagus and they need help taking care of her. I can work from home and they can't, so I volunteered. She needs help bathing and having her diaper changed, her feeding tube needs cleaned and feeding bag filled, and she and her house needs taking care of. She is on hospice, but not close enough to the end to have daily helpers, but she has a nurse stop by twice a week and a helper come twice a week for a couple hours, so I can save heavy lifting for the helper. I'm going to ask my husband to take some 4.5 week after pics so you can see what it looks like soon after the incisions heal. I'll post again at other intervals so you can see progress as the inflammation goes away and the scar heals. Other than that, I will post if I feel I have something relevant to say regarding my progress. I'll only post about my MIL as it relates to my being able to care for her due to my surgery because this isn't a cancer support forum.

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.

So I am 5 years and 2 months post-op RYGB. I made it beyond my goal weight of 170lb to 160lb. Technically I was as low as 145lbs because I was very sick in 2020 then again in 2022, but after getting better, I stabilized at a steady 160lb. Last July I started online streaming/socializing with people. I started snacking more because of nerves and also began drinking quite heavily because being silly tipsy in front of strangers is fun! I had NO IDEA how many calories was in alcohol. Over the course of 5 months, I gained 20lbs. Even more, I noticed that I can eat almost a "normal" plate of food the same size as my family's. I broke the rules and had started drinking fluids with my meals. I think I thought I could get away with breaking rules because I was at a stable 160lbs. Now I am FREAKING out! I hate exercise. I never did it, even with my prior weightloss. I am using a tracking app my husband's VA dietician told him to use called Fat Secret. I am trying to stick to 1600 calories, which is super hard. I feel hungry all the time now. I think I caused pouch dilation. I refuse to be heavy again. My clothes are already getting tighter than I like. I was doing research today on weight gain after years post-op. I basically am reading that I need a bariatric reset. I am going to do a 2-week "Pouch Reset Diet." It's not to make my pouch smaller, but it's to retrain my body to feel full with smaller portions again. I need to go back to the basics, and it's really hard. I also don't get DS with sweets like I used to. Don't get me wrong, I still get sick, but I noticed that my sugar tolerances have changed. It really worries me. 40% of bypass patients fail and bounce back to within 10% of their original weight pre-surgery. I will NOT be a part of that 40%. My support system at home is tricky. On one hand, my husband does support me outwardly. But he himself weighs 415lbs and isn't doing much about his weight. He watched my struggles and drustrations and outright refuses surgery for himself. He's on some stupid intermitent fasting diet, but he still eats way too large portions at meal times. My 15 y/o son is pushing 285lbs, and his only exercise is video games. For me, it's like living around all these food temptations is a struggle. It's like being an alcoholic and living at a bar. I just ordered a crap ton of protein powder so I can jump start this Pouch Reset Diet. I started to push myself on working out at least a little bit. I have a mini stair stepper and an eleptical bike. Anything is better than nothing. I am just wondering if I am alone in my struggles?

I'm almost 5 months post op RNY Gastric Bypass 1/3/24. 52 F 5'9.5 HW 272 SW 255 Surgery date 219, CW 174 1. I had surgery for a variety of reasons, severe GERD, hiatal hernia, gastroparesis, obesity, chronic pain and disability. The best part is not feeling either nauseous, in pain, or hungry 24/7. I feel hungry, I eat, and I feel good. Don't get me wrong, I still have some nausea or pain if I eat too much or too fast, or just knowing something isn't likely going to agree with me, but I've been pretty good at avoiding those things. The chronic pain is lessened, I'm more mobile, and feel more energetic throughout the day, instead of just in the morning. 2. I've had some hard days with emotions, not being able to eat mindlessly anymore, regardless of the food. It's been an adjustment, but honestly, no one needs to eat mindlessly, it just isn't good for anyone. 3. I had a sketchy bladder issue, it didn't wake up for a few days after surgery. I had a sketchy bladder already (Previous Cauda Equina Syndrome), so it wasn't completely out of nowhere that it didn't cooperate. 4. It's been really good for the most part, there have been moments that felt hard like traveling with family and not planning well enough, had a hunger meltdown, and struggled getting what I needed in a hotel room with a barbie fridge. Though recently traveled again, same scenario, but better prepared, no melt downs, no strife. 5. I was started on purees in the hospital and it was a slow progression to regular food and I felt okay through every stage though I would say that I started feeling "normal" when eating after about 3 months? 6. I don't eat bread, pasta, rice, fried foods anymore. My ultra favorite was fish fry, now I have baked cod and still eat it with tartar sauce, so I don't feel deprived. Most foods that I crave I've been able to find a satisfying alternative for that works for me. . 7. I have not vomited once since the surgery, I've wished I could at least twice, but it was a matter of having eaten too much and needing to wait to let it settle. That is a good reminder for me to go slow and take breaks. I've not had any dumping, though I avoid all sugar anyways, and did prior to surgery. 8. It's different for everyone, I think I felt most like myself again at about 8 weeks. Though that doesn't mean that I felt bad before that, I just felt less energetic, a bit more emotional, etc. 9. Yes, very much so. I don't have that afternoon slump anymore, I feel clearer and just happier. I feel like I am now what I was supposed to be all this time. If that makes sense? 10. It affected my mental health in the expected way, I was weepy, sad, afraid, etc. I was thoroughly prepared for it by reading on this site and American Bariatrics site. I knew what to expect and it didn't shock me or frighten me when it happened. Thanks to all of you who so generously shared about those experiences. I'm definitely happier now, I feel more comfortable in my own body now than I have in a very long time. 11. I don't regret a moment of it, would definitely recommend it to anyone who is eligible and interested in having surgery. For me, the biggest piece of it is that feeling of eating, then feeling satisfied. When I go out with friends or family, even though there is so much food still on the table, or on my plate, it doesn't keep me preoccupied. I'm able to just sit and enjoy the time with friends and family without spending the entire time talking to myself about one more bite, one more piece, no, no, maybe...................This piece right here is invaluable, and when combined with the fact that I don't feel sick all the time anymore, it's definitely been worth it many times over for me.

Wow 10 days post op , 4 days post op and your already allowed to eat? My DS surgery was November 9th and I’m instructed to still follow a liquid diet. I’m dying here I want FOOD! All I have is broth, water sugar free jello decaf tea water and more water, oh and sugar free ice pops.. my mouth is dry and my tummy is empty I want solids.

Hi everyone! This is my first post on the boards. I had my surgery on 10/23. I'm feeling pretty good but I'm nervous about going back to work. I know I still need to have my protein shakes throughout the day. But I guess I'm just nervous about being tempted by the things people bring in. Going back to work next week so wish me luck!

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?

Try exercise snacking. Multiple short bursts of exercise throughout the day. Each burst adds to your total for the day. So say 3 x 10 min sessions = 30 mins of daily exercise. Much easier to slot in your busy day. This is what I do. Try to add things during your work day like going for a walk in the your lunch break, walk/jog up any stairs you have at work. Hand weights, resistance bands are handy things to use at home at night. Some stretches (yoga based) can help you relax after work too & are great for flexibility. I have a mat on my living room floor in front of the tv. Put on Great British Bake off & do a session of stretches & bands. I also like wall push ups. (I stand about 90cm - 3 feet - from the wall & do 60.)

I am proud of you hanging in there. It will be 19 days since surgery. Had a couple of rough days. Learning the difference between physical and mental hunger. Got to find different things to do. Not focusing on 2hat to eat next. Stay strong.

I don't have MS, but I do have several autoimmune diseases along with Fibro and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I am almost 3 months out from a traditional duodenal switch. I have found my energy level and ability to exercise has increased a lot, I no longer get post exertional malaise. I also have less pain because the surgery causes your inflammation levels to decrease and as you lose weight, those levels will continue to go down. Since I am so early out, I have not had any nutritional issues. However, my surgeon did advise I go with a longer common channel than the standard 100cm cookie cutter length that most doctors go with, because I have a history of nutritional deficiencies. I went with 175cm. I'm really glad I had the DS, I'd do it again every year if I had to just for the fact it put my diabetes and high blood pressure into remission immediately after surgery!! Plus I have more energy than I've had in 2 decades. There is a different forum that has more DS patients on it, you might try posting there. It is www.bariatricfacts.org I'm not sure if anyone there has MS, but they are great with recommendations. There's also a support group for DS patients on FB called "Duodenal Switch SUPPORT Group" and there are a TON of DS patients there, you might try posting and seeing if any have experience with the switch and MS. As for surgeons, I had my surgery done with Dr. Pilati at WakeMed Bariatrics in Cary, NC which is right outside of Raleigh. We have a number of excellent DS surgeons in this area because of our world class healthcare centers. I don't know of any in the DE area but the women at bariatricfacts might, a lot of them are vets of the surgery for 10+ years!

VGS Surgery on 10/16- finally starting soft food stage today!!! For anyone who has never had cinnamon in their cottage cheese- it’s a game changer! Soo yummy I added some peaches and it was like eating dessert for breakfast.

Sounds a pretty okay weight loss to me especially if you experienced a stall of 1-3 weeks. You’re averting about 3lbs a week - nothing wrong with that. There is no ‘this is how much weight you must lose by this point’ rule. We all lose at our own rate. Some faster some slower. You lose at the rate that is best for you. There are averages which can be used as a guide but never a rule. Doesn’t mean you won’t lose your weight. (Don’t be influenced by the weight loss seen on tv programs. They lose large amounts in the beginning because they started at twice your weight & have lots to lose Their rate loss slows as they progress.) Is your surgeon concerned? Is your dietician concerned about your loss so far? If they’re okay you have nothing to worry about. You’re certainly not failing. You’ve lost 19 feckin’ pounds. Celebrate every pound you lose. I didn’t have to count calories & didn’t have to track my food so never had to discuss it with my dietician. I checked out of my own interest so I I know I was low calorie eater. Around 300 calories in the first month & was barely eating 900 calories by 6 months when I reached my goal. At 17 months when my weight stabilised I was eating 1300. Now I eat about 1500+/-. I was & am healthy & my blood work was is always excellent. I never could have physically eaten more than I was at any stage. But that is my story. Yours may be different & that’s okay. I’m a little taller than you & not very active (not running miles or spending hours in the gym) I don’t need the calories a taller, more active person needs. Ensure your dietician isn’t trying to fit you into the one size fits all average calorie intake box. The average calorie intake for a woman is said to be 2000 calories - I’d be the size I was before surgery if I ate that much. To lose they say I should eat 1500 so I’d never lose weight either on those recommendations.

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.

Here’s my story. On 4/25/22 I weighed 281.8. A few months later at a Dr appointment for reflux the topic of having endoscopic gastroplasty was mentioned and eventually the surgery was scheduled for September 2022. I reported for the surgery and was going thru the pre-op process when our son called to let us know that he tested positive for COVID. The doctor advised us to reschedule. The next opening was a couple of months off, so it was rescheduled. I reported for the rescheduled surgery but after at check-in we were greeted with the news that the ventilation system for the operating room was down and we would have to reschedule again. This pushed us into 2023 and required navigating a new health insurance provider. Finally On 1/24/2023 I had my surgery and by 5/1/2023 my weight had dropped to 224 then “stabilizing” at around 235. 2023 had lots of ups and downs: - 4/25/2022 – weight 281.8 – bmi 38.2 - 1/23/2023 my last coke have gone over 1 year without a coke. Was typically drinking 1 – 2 20 oz bottles per day of regular coke. - 1/24/2023 - surgery. - 3/31/23 got laid off from work. - 4/6/2023 – robotic hernia surgery - 4/26/2023 – kidney stones - 5/1/2023 – weight 224 – bmi 30.3 - 7/11/2023 – procedure to evaluate hiatal herniaI - 1/18/2024 - COVID. - 1/25/2024 - big disagreement with boss and resigned. - 1/29/2024 - received ontingent job offer but significant pay cut. Job won't start for a month so I have time to think abiut job or seek other opportunities. - 1/30/2024 - weight 234.4 – bmi 31.7 Things to work on: - Eat better and exercise long term. I’ll do ok eating and exercising for a week or two and then I start stress eating, not feeling like walking. - Eating – there are times when I don’t feel hungry but want something to eat. - Regularity – I’ve always been irregular and at times have IBS with uncontrollable BM and then other times go days ( 3 – 4 days) between BM. - I have a goal of going on a couple of long bike rides 10 -15 miles but need to start getting in shape for them. - Decide to retire or find new job. - I rarely feel full. I think that I’m eating less but feel hungry or feel like eating even if I’m not hungry. Looking for advice on healthy things to eat between meals and limiting appetite here is a list of things that I like to eat . - - I like Kind Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew bars (170 cal, 22 g carbs and 6 g protein) - addicting - Inspire Square Protein Wafers by Bariatric Eating (200 cal, 13 g Carbs 15 g protein) - addicting - BariatricPal Protein Shake or Pudding – Chocolate (6 gm carbs 15 gm protein) - Lunches - Dole Sunflower Salad Kit - 350 calaries (40 gm carbs and 9 gm protein)

1. What was the best part of surgery for you? The best part is also the hardest to explain. The best way I can put it is that pre-surgery, I had a demon in my stomach. This demon demanded rich foods and thought that if one of something tasted good, then four of something would taste amazing (this made the demon a liar, but I had to obey these lies). The surgery removed the demon. I no longer feel controlled by cravings. 2. What was the worst part of surgery for you? The 48 hours prior to the surgery were miserable. I could only have water, Gatorades and black coffee. Then I had to take strong laxatives prior to the surgery, so I was defecating so much that my body was expelling food I hadn't even eaten yet. And I couldn't go to sleep because any flatulence had the potential to be ... explosive. So it's 1 am, I am starving, dehydrated, sitting on the john and I need to be at the hospital at 5:30. 3. Did you have any complications (minor or major) during or after your surgery? Nothing major. I greatly underestimated how sore my stomach would be and how long it would take for the soreness to go away. I am a stomach sleeper and it was three months before I felt comfortable sleeping on my stomach. 4. How has adjusting to your new life been for you? I love the new life. I am able to exercise (bike, jog, lift weights) like I never have, I have great energy. I can shop at pretty much any clothing store. It has allowed me to become a better version of myself. 5. How long did it take you to feel comfortable eating food? It was probably 8 months to a year before I felt like I could try any food and not have to worry about my stomach having trouble. 6. Is there anything you can’t eat anymore that you used to enjoy? Can't eat, as in, I physically cannot handle it? Nothing. But there are plenty of things that I used to love that I am uninterested in. Like I have no desire to eat a donut. Just seems like pure sugar to me. 7. What was your recovery like? Any vomiting or dumping syndrome? I did not have dumping syndrome (although some sugar alcohols hit my stomach hard). I did have some vomiting, but it was either due to eating too fast or eating a food that my stomach wasn't ready to handle yet (I had some stewed beef at like the 90 day mark and I wasn't as ready for it as I thought I was. 8. How long did it take you to feel semi-normal after surgery? I would say 90-120 days before I felt physically normal (could sleep on my stomach, could handle most foods) 9. Did you experience higher energy level post surgery? In the immediate aftermath of the surgery, no. This was my first (and so far, only) major surgery and I really underestimated how much it would sap my energy. I was walking gingerly for a while. But once I fully recovered, I have had way more energy. 10. Did surgery affect your mental health? Yes, in mostly good ways. The pre-surgery success-failure cycle of yo-yo dieting impacted my psyche way more than I realized. So this state of long-term success helped greatly (and success, both great and small, is an excellent anti-depressant). Will it cure your depression? Absolutely not. To the extent that you think your problems in life are caused by your size ("I'm single because I'm overweight" or "My weight is why they won't give the promotion" or "my weight is why my mother is passive-aggressive toward me"), the surgery will not make those problems go away. I'm very lucky and very blessed to live an amazing life and the weight-loss has only further revealed what an amazing and blessed life I have. 11. Do you regret it? Would you recommend it? I do not regret it. I make it a personal policy not to outright recommend it to anyone because everyone has their own journey. For many years, I saw bariatric surgery as a last resort, a kind of "pull in case of emergency" lever. I realized that I was 40+ yrs old with a wife and children and no diet had ever worked for me and I was only fooling myself if I thought the next one would do the trick. I had to either pull the lever or make peace with being morbidly obese for the rest of my life. I pulled the lever and I would pull it again without hesitation.

Hi everyone, my name is Charlie and I had gastric sleeve on 10/03/23. Prior to surgery I was weighing in at 227. I am 5'6" and have high BP as well as high cholesterol and sleep apnea. I am 6 weeks post op now and weigh 197 and my BP is back to 120/80 today with no meds.