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Crap! I was trying to quote this to continue a train of thought and accidentally erased it! Derp! Ok, lemme see if I can recreate it. Sorry, it is harsh. It is a harsh truth. You should see your surgeon about alternatives. Maybe this is the wrong surgery for you? Maybe you need a Phase II = DS which has malabsorption involved with it? Also, get your RD on board to help you with a plan and if you aren't getting help already, ask your surgeon for a consult to a bariatric therapist--one who can help you understand your relationships and how they affect your eating. Surgery is a tool. It isn't magical. Too many try to let the surgery do all the work. But it's not a tool with it's own engine. It's passive unless you apply repetitive force/action to it all the time with each bite/meal. Just like a hammer, it will just sit there like a rock unless you pick it up and actively use it correctly to drive a nail home. You HAVE to want to actively change and give up old ineffective behaviors and relationships with food. You have to be ready to break up with comfort food and crap for at least 90-95% of your daily diet--every day--world without end--amen. Are you ready for that?

Do all sleeves or bariatric surgeries need revisions? I’m seeing posts that some people think the sleeve stops working and will need a revision at some point. Where are people getting this information? Yes, some people may need surgery revision. It can happen with any type of surgery. This site is filled with new people and people that have gained weight. People that are maintaining have no need for support here. I’m wondering if this is the reason people think surgeries will “need revisions” That we are all doomed to regain. Understand some may need a revision for various reason: examples: (I’m sure there are more reasons than what I have listed) Complications procedure not done correctly it was the wrong type of surgery for an individual. Many reasons why people gain weight. (Most People can control gains on their own, If the contiune to gain, they can consult their surgeon on options) Examples: Hormones medical conditions medications pregnancy/ menopause eating disorders stress Grazing – Eating a combination of heathy and unhealthy food over their calories and macros. The sensation is no restriction. Its as if you never had surgery and you will gain weight. Mistaking stretching as your restriction becomes less as you progress out from surgery (Your stomach is not back to full size) You still can fill it with food within your calories and macro’s Not knowing how many calories they are eating daily Will all surgeries stop working. NO. Will everyone gain weight - no. If you gain you can work it back down. Weigh yourself before a 20 pound gain continues on to a 40, 80, or 100+ weight gain.

You've done great so far. Weight gain is a sign that we have fallen off track and leaning back on food for comfort. My highest weight was 278 but my surgery wait was 237. I've only lost 50 lbs with my RNY tool. I messed around and gained 10 lbs back after a year and a half but I'm still determined to lose these last 35 - 40 lbs. Right now I'm working towards intermittent fasting and working to implement Keto. It's probably easier for me than others because I've developed so many food allergies throughout the years that I can't eat a lot of foods anyway. I continue to go to Weight Watcher meetings because I still need the support of people who still struggling with their weight loss journey and I need the accountability. I've lost 5 lbs so far. I've tried going to a bariatric group held by my clinic but people were afraid to be honest in front of the nutritionist and counselor. A few weeks ago I showed some before picks I took to someone and they asked my what made me take pictures facing forward and sideways. My response was "I always knew that I would lose this weight by any means necessary". Don't let others defeat your goals because they matter to you. Be well.

Hi everyone. Thought I’d comment since I actually have had some experience with this...unfortunately!! I am about 13 months post-vsg (have lost about 100lbs) and traveled a few times out of the country, starting in June 2018. I had LOTS of problems with my passport. I didn’t think I looked that different, or that at least I wasn’t unrecognizable but it was a pain. They stopped me, asked me questions, and during one trip, I almost missed my flight. Was just overseas in December and coming back and going through customs, I was asked a bunch of questions, they took my passport, asked me to go to another section, took a picture, asked for another ID....it was a pain. And it took so long that I ended up having to look for my luggage because they had already taken it off the conveyor. Even with all that I was debating whether to update my passport since unfortunately, I updated a year before surgery (it was about to expire) and now doesn’t expire until 2027. And I called and asked and they basically told me I would need to follow the steps of renewing it if I want a new picture and pay the $110 fee. There is no special fee for “I lost a bunch of weight and look great!” My next trip is in May so I need to make a decision this week whether to chance it...again or just get a new one. I think I will since i don’t want to run the risk of having to convince people and miss my flights!

Hi Friends. I had RNY surgery in December of 2015. I am really bummed. On Monday, I got reestablished with a bariatric office and nutritionist. When I started my weight loss journey I was 298. My lowest was 202. I've been under a lot of stress this past year and slowly gained weight. I am at 223. When I expressed my concern with the office and told them what my goal weight was and always has been. I was told that I would never be able to get to that weight. I just need the support and encouragement from someone. I would love to get to 170. I do not think 170 is unrealistic at all. Am I wrong? any tips would be greatly appreciated and accepted. Thanks, Ellen

I saw a bariatric multi on amazon that is a pill, only once daily. Anyone try it? Will my body absorb all the minerals in one dose? Trying to save money on supplements!!! Sent from my SM-G892U using BariatricPal mobile app

@Faith2002 DSERS don't absorb carbonate. Plus, your hunch is correct, carbonate makes us more prone to kidney stones. I take 40+ vits/minerals a day. Now, at about a year out you may see the malabsorption really kick in on your bloods. Bariatric Advantage doesn't have nearly enough in it for me unless I'd take it like Centrum (of which I take 2 daily). If your bloods are good, then stay with what you're on. Definitely keep all of your records and compare each subsequent draw so you can watch for any trends. I also recommend having your preop blood work. It might help if you run into a difficult deficiency you can't solve (as time goes on) as it did with me. Make sure you're taking your iron on an empty stomach (no food, pill, drinks [other than water]) for 60 minutes before and after. Your Vitamin D should be at least 50 on your bloods. I don't know how low yours is but I'd start taking dry Vitamin D3 (cholicalciferol). Either 50,000iu/day or 100,000iu/day depending how low you are.

I can't really answer your questions definitively but I will give you my thoughts. After surgery, some weight loss surgery patients will have a small tube to allow drainage of any accumulated fluids from the abdomen. This is a safety measure, and it is usually removed before you are discharged from the hospital. I didn't get one after my RNY gastric bypass surgery but some people did and they might enter into the discussion and describe their experiences with a drain. This link describes the purpose of a drain. https://www.empowher.com/bariatric-surgery/content/after-gastric-bypass-surgery-drain-left-patient-dr-orris This is a YouTube video of a woman having the drain removed 2 weeks after surgery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkkSTu7MUlw

Bariatric Patients as a rule don't retain enough stomach acid to digest carbonate, usually you just pass it,out in your stool indigested, but perhaps it could affect your kidneys also. They along with the g.I. system get wastes disposed of.

You must have got the same model pouch as Fluffy Chix, hers is very cast iron, gave her hardly any trouble. Gosh I wish mine had been the same instead of a more tempermental model but Precious and I will still make our peace. Just had my 2 oz of pureed down "Not so Sloppy :sloppy Joe mix with lean meat. And I think she is going to accept it, happy 6 month Surgiversity to us both. Yeah tomato isn't the easiest thing to handle but if you could do it, Hurray for us both! Going to wait more than 30 minutes to drink anything just in case. See my path has had briars, bumps and twists to,it, in some respects I am 6 months , in others 3 maybe 4 but I will get there to the finish line🚕I'm a jalopy where many of you younger ones are Ferraris, Like the old time Timex Watch commercial " I take a lickin' and keep on tickin': so I guess I'll still be okay.Talked to one of my bariatric nurses today, told me to stop having "diet envy",that I am still doing just fine, maybe I am slower through stages but I have a great weight loss to show for things, can't compare oranges and apples, but sometimes I feel like a gnarled old crabapple. But maybe God likes all kinds of fruit in his Garden,yeah I LIKE that thought! And your restriction may hit in other ways, if not you're still doing your thing, just your way! My Proud moment, down to 242 from surgery weight of 319, n9w that I think is Good! But it has been in fits and spurts although I never really have stalled. Remember, a jalopy, that's me. I guess I chug a chug along.

@postop Saw where you had the DS several years back and wanted to ask you a few questions. 1. I saw somewhere that you commented about calcium citrate vs carbonate. So what’s the issue with carbonate? I have been taking carbonate and am having kidney stone issues again and wondering if it’s coming from the carbonate or rather it’s making them worse. 2. What vitamin do you take daily? I found that Bariatric advantage has a vitamin specific for BPDS patients and I only have to take two a day and then add an iron supplement and calcium. My blood work with the exception of vitamin D is all normal. At that time wasn’t concerned with the D being a little in ten low end . I’m almost a year out this month.

Sort of like Willie Wonkas Golden ticket only this one reads " Entitles Bearer to 1 (one) Bariatric Procedure to be done no more than 60 days from above date" Just a little Fizzy Lifting Drink and you're through. Then the real work of the Future starts, and that can be the toughest stage of all!

Here's the thing. I don't find value in not receiving nutritionist guidance from your surgeons office. On so many boards I see what am I supposed to eat questions. Well where was the guidance from your bariatric clinic Sent from my moto e5 play using BariatricPal mobile app

And talk more, move the food around on the plate, try to tell the others I am enjoying your company, the statement she is doing this to get better is very good, almost everyone I know is on some sort of diet anyway so we don't stick out as bad as one might think. Yes box it up if necessary, I got a card from my facility that states as a post- bariatric patient I am permitted to choose from childs or senior menu. Well I am a " senior" or at least the calender says so, I think of me more as "late Middle Age," my RnY gave me a longer lifespan. And I intend to" rock it" as long as I have breath in this body.

Baby food. The chicken and turkey were good, the beef was gross. I think I tried mashed bananas and that was gross. Baby food applesauce was OK, though. There was some sort of lentil soup recipe in here that I made and pureed, that worked well too. https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Start-Bariatric-Cookbook-Weight-Loss/dp/1623157730/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1551818288&sr=8-2

Amazon is like a large spider, I buy what I can off of Bariatric Pal store, Alex has good stuff, our best interests at ❤, after all he's been there, done that himself, and I believe only stocks the best. And the shipping time is very good, very quick between NY and Ohio. And if I could get to Sam's Club I would buy there or Costco before enriching the Amazon Spider!

Well it is now 6 months. and 4 hours since my RnY surgery- so I finally qualify. Funny I wanted to be with you all so badly,i even visited early, but after promising one of you I wouldn't bother you any longer the lustre is quite off.And it is a shame, I once felt I had so much to offer for my trek has been atypical and I thought I might give hope to others. So I may visit infrequently but it won't be the source of sustainance I once thought it once would be. Sad isn't it? What I wanted so badly, a source of support, once again denied. If anyone is remotely interested I am at 242, down from a surgery weight of 319, finally starting to go into smaller sizes although still not out of plus/woman and into " normal" sizing. Unsatisfied with the pace and scope of my diet although my bariatric consultants say I am doing fine, I am not so certain. Life is tedious, struggle to get get enough calories in since they capricously pulled my PICC line for an infection blood cultures showed was not present. Now I am struggling, 2 oz protein or soft veg every 3 hours, 2 oz cuplet of fluids every 15 minutes in between , enough vitamins, minerals and meds I make a rattling sound when I walk, and currently involved in a p******g war about whether I need iron infusions and which facility is going to do it. I feel like a ping pong ball, one group says I'm seriously getting low, other says I'm delusional if I think I need it. My recovery is not mine, it's Theirs, I'd run away but I get too out of breath with low "heme" factors. Happy 6 months to ME, waiting on a phone call from one or other telling me if something is scheduled.

My hospital/bariatric CENTER. does have support meetings, alas they ALL are set up in the evening when it us impossible to get to Columbus, dont have anything reliable after 7 pm and as far as I know there are no one else in Know County I could ride with. I am cetainly the only RnY but I am not sure there are any VSG here to want share the experience. I must be a pioneer, usually I am # 2 sled dog in everything. You know the worst thing about being #2 sled dog ? The view never changes!

Ok the term I want to use is "Non- Resilience". Oh I had heard about Restriction, it's in the fine shiny Bariatric Folder and other literature. Now today is my 6 month Surgiversity, Whoop Whoop for for me, except I have very little to Whoop about. Those of you who know my story , and most must cause I tend to bounce all over BP like a demented BouncyBall, I have not had a pretty as a picture recovery. My tiny tummy scars are the best of it, sad right? I have had a stomal stricture, jujeneal ulcerations, so many EGJ the Endoscopy/ Hepatology Suite people at Ohio State greet me by name instead of Medical Case #, and they still aren't over, forecast is 2 more at lelast. So here I be, had a PICC line from November 29 to February 26, when my CNP and OSU capriciously ordered it removed. Their excuse, maybe it was an focus for systemic infection, and had caused my pneumonia and fluid on my right shoulder joint. Well Ha Ha to them, there was NOTHING there on all the cultures. Now what? I have a hole in my upper left arm, change the bandaid everyday , still hasn't scabbed over, until then I can't shower unless I wrap my arm in Saran wrap. Right shoulder still sore after fluid removal, may not get better until my plate and screws which I have had for 9 years for a humeral repair are removed. Admitted it would be only be outpatient/ambulatory but " maybe we ought to wait until GI system settles down" Bull feathers, I can't lift anything over 5-10 pounds already. But back to my" Rny which makes me cry" When they removed the PICC line it was Good Luck Eating! Now I have been on a liquid/ thin puree diet for what seems like forevermore. Protein shakes since my Liver shrink back last August, because of the stomal stricture, pureed must be very thin, because Precious Pouch doesn't drain well, I feel she is no longer stomach tissue, more like a Ziploc bag with a tiny pinhole. I was willing to let TPN supply the bulk of my calories and try to add what P,O. foods my pouch would allow. Nope, pull the line, throw me into the Ohio River at flood stage and shout " hope you make it to shore!" At least that's how I feel. Now correct me if I am incorrect , but it seems my VSG cousins with their neat new bananarama pouch, the pouch relaxes and they go from 1/8. to 1/4 to 1/3 to 1/2 cup foods, meanwhile I am at 2 oz if protein or veggies that have had the snarf cooked out of them, in between my perpetual 2 oz cuplet of fluids, calories free drinks. etc. By my year anniversary I will either be insane and dropping or in line with Mousecat singing out " put her back the way she was" oh I have loved the weight loss, the diminishment of my bulky body, but there is a verse in the Gospel of St Matthew, if I remember correctly " What does it gain a man to gain the whole world if he loses his immortal soul?" Have I sold my health for this operation, was the trade- off good for ME? A happy thought, if my orthopaedic surgeon's scale is correct, I now weigh less than Tomkitten my son, this even endengeres fear, last time I dropped a equal amount I ended up in OSU with malnutrition and protein- anemia, and then I I got the PICC line so I could get in more protein than I could PO. I really don't resent to surgery itself as much as the fact I didn't heal right, very disgruntled with my 73 year old body who has been faithless. Will I ever get to the point where I can eat small normal portions of anything?

I've never taken the chewables, only the ones that are swallowed. I'm glad too, because I don't think I'd like the chewables, and I've had no problems swallowing the pills. I think the one I take is the Bariatric Advantage Multivitamin. It used to be a once a day pill; now, it's three a day. I don't love that, but at least I can take them all at the same time. I've just got to make sure I take it around 30-45 minutes after eating.

That is great! I used Dr. Tiffany Jessee at Suncoast Bariatrics in St Petersburg. She is amazing. I have already referred 4 people to her

I just renewed my passport too but mine was about to expire. I look thinner & younger but i miss all my stamps and visas 😞😞😞

I agree. I started then today as well and they're awful! But, I don't think a chewable with iron would be good in any brand. I have bariatric fusion in orange cream. Yuck!

Hi everyone! I am currently 4 weeks post op and was told to start my vitamins this week. I have the bariatric advantage multivitamin chewable and the calcium chewables....to put it bluntly, I hate them. I cant even smell them without gagging. Not to mention the calcium is so spicy on my tongue for some reason. Did anyone else have this issue?? Also, does anyone just take ones that you can swallow? I swallow pills just fine and if that's an option, I would sooo prefer it! Let me know! Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

So, I’ve lost 80 lbs and despite a monster stall keeping me from breaking through the barrier to wonderland, I’m wondering whether it’s time to update my passport even though it’s valid for another six years. I’m traveling to Sri Lanka this summer (woo hoo!!) and debating updating my passport in time for my August trip... wondering if anyone has any experiences either using their pre-weight-loss passport successfully/unsuccessfully, or having decided to update it early…I also cut off my hair so I look extra different! Thanks!