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My date is 3/21! I'm hungry (pre-op diet), excited, and very anxious.

On week 4 , I'm allowed shrimp so I had shrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce the other night! It was a nice treat. I'm also allowed chili, so I bought organic canned chili by Amy. Paired it with shredded Mexican cheese and sour cream. I also eat the foods other people mentioned except ricotta bake. I don't know what that is. Also, I added shaved deli ham to my scrambled egg and cheese on week 4 .

Anyone else out there having the procedure 3/13/23? Lucky # 13 😊

I just ate it plain since none of the usual things you dip in it would have been allowed the first few weeks.

Iron deposits need a while to drain. Some people are not able to resorb oral iron supplements after bypass. However, a fast drop over the course of some weeks isn't really explained that way. What about the other parameters? Ferritin, transferrin, hb?

Hi, all. I had bypass surgery almost exactly four years ago. I've taken bariatric vitamins religiously and my bloodwork has always been perfect. Now, all of a sudden, I have iron deficiency anemia. My most recent bloodwork showed an iron level of 24. Then, after five weeks of iron supplements, it had dropped to 14. What?? (I'm not exactly sure what those numbers mean, but my doctor says they are concerning.) I know that bypass causes absorption issues. However, nothing has changed in terms of my diet or vitamin intake. You would think this would have shown up long before now. Even my doctor is perplexed and is running tests to see what the cause might be. Has anyone else experienced this issue years after surgery? I'd be especially interested in hearing from other men, as we are less prone to iron deficiency than women.

I had the lapband, and at first it worked well and I reached my goal. I had it because it was reversable. Then I experienced the complications that so many others have, and had to have it removed. I gained all the weight back. I have 2 friends that also had the lapband and also had to have it removed. I was happy to be thin, but at the expense of constantly throwing up, really bad GERD, and landing in urgent care twice because I was so dehydrated. I would highly advise against it! I am now 2 weeks post op with the sleeve, (at 62) and finally optimistic again.

I am 2 weeks post op (sleeved 2/23/23). Overall doing well, but I get sharp cramps on my left side, mostly if I take too many sips to close, and also closer to the center, I guess heart burn, but didn't have an issue with that before. Anyone else with that issue?

For the abdominal piece you may be able to use sick leave/take FMLA. Diastasis recti repair is considered medical. I was able to take 3 weeks of sick leave for mine.

That's cool! I would still practice eating like you would after surgery. Chew foods 22 times, don't drink with meals, drink fluids an hour after meals or 30 minutes before meals. 3oz lean protein, 1/2 cup veggies or fruit, light dressings, eat protein first. 3 meals a day. Practice getting your protein and fluids in. I find it hard after surgery so far, but working hard on it every day

I am scheduled for 3/30 also, I am excited but nervous. We got this!

We didn't have any liquid only diet; we had puree and soft things (yogurt, scrambled eggs, etc.) in the hospital along with a lot of liquids, of course. The general rule the first month was to move between liquids, purees and soft solids as we could tolerate them; if we came across something that wasn't tolerated, then move back to proven foods and try that one again in a week or two. Some progressed more quickly than others. With protein shakes as a staple to ensure adequate protein, I started with broth, then graduated to thicker soups like vegetable or chicken noodle or rice with the chunks strained out, then just mashed the chunks as the next trial, then went unmashed and well chewed, etc. As the group had around twenty years experience in working with the sleeve (at that time), I wasn't about to argue with them being different than others online.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to say hello and that I've started the journey. I had my consultation with the medical team today. It went well, and it looks like my insurance will work out (fingers crossed). My insurance is requiring 2-3 visits with the dietician, and I've scheduled my upper GI, and ultrasound. They want me to do a sleep study too but the place was closed when I tried to call....so I'll make that appointment tomorrow. I was able to get all of my appointments scheduled for this month. The surgeon and nurse said that I would have 2 visits with them, 1 month apart and as long as I had gotten all my testing done by then we would schedule the surgery after the 2nd visit. So hopefully this can progress quickly and I will be able to get scheduled for surgery sometime in July. I'm a teacher so I would love to be able to rest up and heal before Fall semester starts again at end of August! I'm pretty sure I am going to go with the bypass, although the Dr said there were fewer complications with the sleeve. The bypass seems like it's more successful long term which is why I'm choosing it. Anyway, nice to find an online community. Hope everyone is doing well! Best, Ash

I found everyone's posts about which procedure and surgeon they went with to be really helpful when I was struggling to find the right surgeon so I thought I'd start a thread for mine too. I've lost over 170lbs total and am currently 16 months out from my surgery, and at a stable weight for over 3 months. I just scheduled an extended Tummy Tuck for this August with Dr. John YS Kim in Chicago at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There will just be a single scar, and even though I do have a bunch of extra skin above the belly button too, he said I didn't need a Fluer de Lis which is great. I had also seen Dr. Shifrin who had recommended a circumferential lower body lift to get all my extra backside skin too, with "auto-augmentation" to make it rounder. Dr. Kim recommended to not try to do that at the same time since the recovery would be quite difficult with both front and back worked on at the same time. I was having a hard time understanding how I would even recover when it would hurt to be on my back, front and sides so it wasn't hard to convince me. I was really unsure of if I was "at weight" or not and as long as I was standing there naked in front of him, I asked if I had more weight to lose or not, or if it was just skin. I find it impossible to tell. He said that I actually don't have much fat, just some on my pubis and above belly button which he'd remove with liposuction at the same time. It's nice to just focus on being a stable weight and not wondering if I'm getting it done too soon. The surgery should take 4 hours, and I would go home the same day, and then see him once a week for the next 4-6 weeks. There will be 2 drains in place and removed 2 weeks later as well. Plus a binder/compression garments for 3 months. The surgeon fee was $16,000 with a non-refundable 10% down when I scheduled and the remainder due 3 weeks before the surgery. With hospital and anesthesiologist fees it came to $20,800. If I change my surgery date, I lose the the deposit so I can't chicken out. 😅 There was another surgeon there, Dr. Galiano, whose fee was $10k less which was tempting, since it was still a great doctor at Northwestern hospital, but I really liked Dr. Kim and kind of wanted "the best". Dr. Shifrin who performs the surgery in an outpatient surgical center at his office would have cost $22k. I didn't feel comfortable doing these surgeries outside of a hospital so that helped narrow down my choices too. I have BCBS and only one of the surgeons was willing to try to document skin irritation so that insurance would pay for some of the procedure. Everyone else was just like "lol no it's cosmetic" and that was the end of it. I get infections from time to time but they do respond to medication and don't happen all the time so I felt like it was really unlikely that I could go that route. Insurance said that if your pannus was below your public line AND you have infections that don't clear up, then they would pay for just the Panniculectomy. The entire experience really convinced me that you have to see multiple surgeons because prices are ALL OVER the place, even within the same practice/hospital, and everyone had a different idea of what work I should do, the combination of it, pain management, etc. After the first consultation, I learned that I suck at asking questions while in a paper gown, and gave the surgeon a printed copy of my questions and asked him to walk through each one with me, which also was a great way to way to feel out their personality and willingness to work with me. My plan is to also get a breast, arm and inner thigh lift but none of the doctors wanted to talk about surgeries that wouldn't happen for maybe a year or longer out. Once I'm recovered from the tummy tuck, then we'd discuss the next area to focus on which for me would be arm/breast combo. So this process is going to take a while, with having to save up all of my vacation for the entire year for each surgery.

I just scheduled an extended tummy tuck for this August with Dr. John YS Kim in Chicago. It's pretty far out but August turned out to be the best time for me to take off work anyway. I asked him how long before I would go back to work (desk job) and he was pretty confident that it was 4 weeks minimum. If I can go back sooner, I will but I managed to get the time off so if I need it I have it.

I was on full fluids from day 1 - the very first thing I was given post op was coffee and strained yoghurt (which I simply could not get down). 2 weeks of those, 2 of puree, then onto normal but softer foods progressing as I felt able. Surgeons really do differ a lot. I did like comparing my programme to others here though - still do! Best of luck, hope you do really well OP.

I have a recurring hernia that came as a result of my gallbladder surgery years ago. I have had 3 hernia surgeries to date and part of Plan B is a 4th. I'm having that on 3/23 and then scheduling the revision to bypass for about 3-4 months after the Hernia repair so I'm all healed up. I've been feeling really down about this so I'm glad to be back on the path to resolution Wishing you the best as well.

With regard to the recent kidnappings/murders, I've heard that Americans, especially tourists, are targeted for ransom or cash. People who regularly travel to Mexico for medicine and procedures will register their car with the Mexican state so they can swap license plates once over the border. The fact that the hospital is driving to get you and bring you back is very helpful and adds a bit of safety, since their vehicles and driver will be local. I've also heard that some of these medical facilities have an unspoken "understanding" not to mess with their patients, but that could all be here-say. Whatever you decide, I'm wishing you the best! My surgery is also on 3/13, but here in the US, so feel free to message me if you'd like to support/track one another. Take care!

A year ago I started having awful pain in my stomach that went around to my back, for 6 months I suffered thinking it had to be gas. Nope. They did a a CT scan, upper gi, and a EGD this past Nov and said my intestines were inflamed but can't tell me what is happening or why. I want to know if anyone else is going through this

I am on the 21st I started liquid diet (Optifast) on Saturday - for two weeks with 2 cups non-starch vegetables. Have my last pre -op meeting with the surgeon, internal medicine specialist, anesthesiologist, surgical nurse and pharmacist on the 15th - will get my plan for the last two days pre-surgery after the final set of tests - so it sounds like the plans are really personalized - if your team hasn’t said anything maybe you’re fine. I would ask. High protein, low carb in the homestretch sounds safe

Did your team give you a pre-op plan? Mine was liquid with a small meal for dinner; 3-4oz protein, 1/4 cup carb/starch, unlimited non-starch veggies. That was days 1-9. Day 10 was 100 liquids.

No they changed my surgery date back to the 22nd so I'm 2 weeks away Sent from my moto g power (2022) using BariatricPal mobile app

I was on clear liquids post op day 1 and 2, then 12 days or so in full liquids, then pureed/soft for 2 weeks, so once I had hit the month I could eat regular textured food. I was self pay in the US with virtual meetings. My sister was with insurance, in person meetings, weighted about 70lbs less and she was on liquids for 4 weeks, because that was her plan. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

I think many people here would put their hand up & say they too wondered if they really needed surgery & couldn’t just do it themselves. So you’re not alone in that thinking. However, I think all of us would say we tried dieting ourselves (or with clubs, dieticians, weight loss companies) in the past with all the best intentions many, many times, yet we all found ourselves obese. Yes, you are asked to follow a liquid shake diet post surgery but it is usually only for 2 weeks, then you usually progress to purées, soft foods then solid food. It is in place solely to support your healing of your tummy. Think of the sutures & staples holding your tummy together - you don’t want to stress or strain them with coarse or dense foods. After that the diet you will be placed on encourages healthy eating of nutrient dense foods. It encourages you to consider the nutritional value of what you eat, to work at breaking cravings & old habits., to look at your relationship with food. With the diet you slowly add a greater variety of foods & increase portion sizes until how you’re eating close to your maintenance point & it is much like the way you’ll eat in the future. The pre surgery diet, which often also is shakes, is also short term & in place so you will lose some weight quickly, reduce fat around your liver & make surgery easier. For me the surgery changed my metabolic rate, gave me a new set point (the weight my body is happiest at), it adjusted my digestive hormones. Most importantly it gave me time to look at my eating & develop new habits. No other diet did that. Every other diet I felt like I was punishing myself which is why when I finished the diet I went back to eating in the exact same way I always had & the weight came back. I didn’t with this. I have a new way of looking at food & eating. I’m not on a diet. This is just the way I eat. But only you know if the surgery will be right for you & that’s okay. All the best whatever you choose to do. PS - Sorry for the long post. I guess you can tell I’m very pro surgery but that is because of the success I’ve had.

There are lots of differences in plans for pre & post surgery. From how long each stage lasts to what you are allowed to eat or drink on each stage, etc. While the two weeks cycle is quite common many have shorter or longer stages like one week liquids or skip stages like no purée. Some find they need to stay longer at a stage or go back a stage because they’re not healed enough. I have heard of some surgeons who have encouraged their patient to move to the next stage earlier than they first required. I was on two week cycles of the three stages: liquids, purée & soft, before beginning more solid food. Liquids did not have to be clear & was allowed smooth soups & broths with shakes during the liquid stage but no juice, sugar free jello or popsicles at all. Many are allowed mashed potatoes & apple sauce during purées but I wasn’t. I was allowed herbal or green tea from the beginning. Best advice is always to follow your surgeon’s plans. It’s in place to protect & support your healing tummy & not put additional stress on it. They have developed their plan based on their theories & experiences. If you do have an issue with the stages or plan discuss it with your surgeon - never hurts to ask for modifications.