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Definitely check with your bariatric team. I was told nothing with coconut because that can get stuck. The literature they gave me says to avoid fruits with seeds, the skins of the fruits, and the membranes of citrus. Right now, I can eat 10 fresh cherries and have no issues.

It depends on the fruit. 6 weeks, typically, but some fruits are off the table. In moderation, you can do strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. Apples and bananas are a no go. Blueberries are healthy but should be very limited. No pineapple, peaches, pears. Mango, papaya, grapes are also no. Coconut is ok but should be in limited quantities. This is all according to my nutritionist. I tend to stick to strawberries, coconut, and rarely I add in some blueberries. But mostly strawberries and coconut. And I don't have those all that often, either. In general, fruit has a lot of carbs and sugar, so there's not a lot that are technically ok for bariatric diets.

When did you guys start taking your multivitamins post op? I already have BariLife one a day with iron and the Bariatric Fusion 4 a day chewable ones now. But I don’t recall when they told me to start taking these exactly. Maybe I’m having brain fog. But I do take the Bcomplex everyday.

Well a bunch of us were going to break in and get you out of that prison , 'cos we couldn't couldn't send a bariatric patient a big pie with tools in 😉 Glad you are safe home and hope you heal quickly x

What a crazy past week! I first posted here last Saturday about the doubts I was having about my gastric sleeve surgery scheduled for 8/15, not in regards to surgery, but concerns with the provider. Monday I expressed some of my concerns to the nurse, who is the bariatric program coordinator, and this lead her to deciding to take me off the surgery schedule, saying if I was going to rehash all the past issues I'd had with them, since these issues would only likely continue post op that it wouldn't be safe to do surgery as I wouldn't comply with post op care. She did say she'd consider reinstating my surgery date, but then started making a long list of demands... since I live out of town I had been told I needed to remain in town through Friday. Of course I booked a hotel from Wednesday-Friday (the plan was likely 1 night in the hospital, and then staying at the hotel 2 additional nights before being able to return back to my home town). She apparently didn't believe me and demanded I forward her my confirmation of booking a hotel room to her! Then she wanted me to make certain statements in writing on the patient portal so "she could take it back to the team" about staying in town, transportation, pain meds, post op care, etc. I was shocked by how horrible I was treated, she was literally yelling at me so loudly (while I was at work) that the conversation could be over heard by others and I had people coming up to me saying "who were you talking to?" in shock by it. I literally had a panic attack after her screaming at me and telling me she was taking my surgery off the schedule. She clearly has no idea the type of person I am: I have never in my life no showed a medical appointment. Have been at my current job 6 years and never clocked in so much as 1 minute late to work. I'm extremely reliable and responsible, so her telling me that I was incapable of following instructions (when the written diet she sent me was in fact incorrect). I don't blame her for that, as they are transitioning the program to the new surgeon so editing all their materials, but to tell me I am incapable of following instructions when she in fact gave me incorrect instructions, and her saying she didn't believe it was safe to do surgery just completely blew my mind! Tuesday she informed me they were going to "keep me off the schedule as a final decision" and I was pretty much despondent and wasn't even able to go to work yesterdady as I pretty much cried all day long. I went to see my primacy care provider, thinking this insane experience had thrown me over the edge and that I needed help for anxiety before I could even think about surgery further, but I actually left very encouraged to keep moving forward. They have referred me to another surgeon and I have a consult on 8/23! I will NOT allow this horrible experience to deter me. My primary care provider told I dodged a bullet and I need to keep moving forward. I thought I went in to ask for some anxiety meds/mental health assistance- something, but the words of encouragement and motivation to keep moving forward were 1000 times better! That being said I am seeing Dr. Tarin Worrest in Missoula, MT on 8/23. By any chance has anyone had surgery with her? Also, any one else have any surgeon suggestions in Montana? My insurance is largely a Montana network so not a whole lot of options, but if anyone has any suggestions for surgeons in the Allegiance network I'd love to hear them!

WOW. That is very unbecoming of a medical establishment and surgical team. Regardless of some exchanged words, you are recovering from a pretty major surgery and there are tons of follow-ups in the first year for a reason. I would say if your requests to change surgeons and get answers to questions continues I would speak with a patient care advocate. Obviously major concerns in the moment should prompt an ER visit, but it would take longer for a general ER doc to understand the potential issues of a bariatric patient post-op. I certainly hope it works out for you and that you have your stresses lessened.

Yes I did my blood thinner injections for two weeks post op. They are easy to do and the needle is so thin that I barely felt it. I would keep an eye on the blood in your urine though and perhaps contact your bariatric team to report it.

Hi! I am scheduled to have gastric sleeve surgery in September. I have diastolic dysfunction grade 1 and the idea of going under anesthesia makes me nervous. My surgeon is aware, as is my cardiologist and all have given me the green light. I realize that weight loss will likely improve the diastolic dysfunction and hopefully prevent full blown heart failure, so I am leaning towards going through with the surgery. I had a previous lapband (removed in 2014) and multiple surgeries which has caused adhesions/scar tissue, which will likely extend my total time under anesthesia. Has anyone had WLS with heart disease? If so, did you have any cardiac complications during or post-surgery?

Are going with a private care provider or does BC have a bariatric program that you get referred into by your family doctor? In Ontario there is a bariatric program that covers most of the costs (you have to buy your own OptiFast for the pre-op liquid diet, but broadly everything else is covered, including all consults and tests (sleep study, endoscopy, bloodwork, etc) if you meet several criteria; BMI greater than 40 or BMI between 30-40 with one comorbidity which are defined as coronary heart disease, hypertension, Type II diabetes, or diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. Once you're enrolled in the program, there are several appointments and classes including a general orientation (virtual), a meeting with a nurse (in person), a social worker (virtual), a dietician (virtual), an internist (in person, who will likely order a sleep study if you haven't had one or have not already been diagnosed with apnea), a nutrition class (virtual) then a meeting with the surgeon (virtual, and who may require an endoscopy to have a look inside your stomach). They will then decide if you're approved for surgery and you'll receive a surgery date shortly thereafter. Next you'll attend a pre-surgery class (virtual). Lastly, you'll need to go in to the hospital two weeks ahead of your surgery where you'll see a nurse, an anesthesiologist and a pharmacist. During this appointment they'll draw blood, give you an ECG, discuss anesthesia and whether you should continue or stop any medications you may be taking before surgery. From being referred into the program to getting my surgery date took almost exactly 4 months (March 7-June 8) and my surgery date is Aug 28, so roughly 6 months total.

When I first started calling around to find info on getting the surgery, I called a place in Omaha that told me the process from initial consult to surgery date was a year on average. The second call was to my bariatric team in Lincoln that told me best case scenario was 3 months. So, depending on the facility. It could be a matter of how busy or just how efficient they are??? Your insurance will also dictate any mandatory time requirements for diet counseling sessions. Also, if any pre-op testing isn't medically cleared, that can hold things up too. I had a whole hella lot of pre-op testing done and still had my surgery at that 3-month mark. I made sure to cross all my Ts and dot my I's in fear of not getting approved. I even thought maybe it was a ploy to scare patients into doing everything right and in actuality plan to approve us regardless. But after reading other people's stories here, I see that's not the case and doctors will postpone or cancel a surgery for various reasons. I ended up going with Bryan Bariatric because they were the only one listed as in network through my insurance and are designated as a Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Here's to hoping they move things along for you OP and Godspeed.

I love the outdoors, so hiking/backpacking and trail running are my main cardio exercises right now. I also strength train 2-4 times a week, depending on what routine I'm doing and what else I'm doing cardio-wise. Before surgery, I would have been pushing it to walk to the end of the block, so I mostly just didn't bother. To me, I don't think of any of the activities I do strictly as something to help me lose or maintain weight. Honestly, fat loss mostly comes from the kitchen, Instead, I partake in these activities because I enjoy them, but perhaps even more importantly, they make me healthier and will hopefully lead to more time here on this planet. Regarding loose skin, I have been able to "fill in" some of it on my arms and legs with muscle. I attribute this to my overall workout plan, not to any specific thing. You didn't really ask, but I wanted to share a few additional things with you: While as you've seen in this thread not everyone is active post-surgery, the data is clear on this: those bariatric surgery patients that partake in at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity 5-6 days a week are significantly more likely to reach their goal weight and maintain their weight-loss long-term. That does not mean you can't be successful without exercise, but it does mean you can greatly tip the odds in your favor if you're active. Both cardio and strength training are important. While cardiovascular exercise has obvious heart-health benefits (that's why it's called cardio after all), it also helps with your overall physical endurance and energy levels, so everything else you do physically just becomes a lot easier. Strength training, in addition to helping you look and feel better physically also increases your metabolism so that you burn even more calories even at rest. It's hard to argue with the benefits of that on weight loss. Strength training will have no direct effect on loose skin. As I implied above, what it can do is help fill out that loose skin with some muscle instead of fat. This is probably going to be more in the arms and legs than in your belly for obvious reasons. Keep in mind though that your ability to add muscle mass is highly impacted by age, genetics, epigenetics, diet and biological sex, among other things. My point is that while some people can "fill in" that lose skin by adding muscle mass, it's by no means assured or even realistic for most of us. It's sometimes misleading to think of strength training as the only thing that builds muscle. Even just walking can help, depending of where you're starting from. Like all exercise, the key is continuing to progress. Once you stagnate, you'll stop improving your health. In short, I highly recommend partaking in both cardio and strength training. If you need help knowing what to do, seek out the assistance of a reputable trainer.

I am sure you will see after talking to a bunch of us. That having a bariatric surgery is but only one part of your whole weight loss journey. You still have to exercise, eat right, and get plenty of rest. Just like most people here say...the surgery is just one tool in your weight loss goals. For me over a 10 year period, I gained weight and lost it more than 4 times, and all the way down to like 200 lbs from 280. I never had trouble losing weight, its just that I could not maintain that weight loss long term, unless I was on a very strict diet. I am hoping that the Gastric Sleeve I got will help me be able to maintain the weight of 185 lbs this time. So I just don't agree with what some people say, that surgery is the easy way out. There is still a lot to losing weight and even going through the whole process of committing to the surgery and recovery. I think most of us were all crazy dieters before we decided on surgery...its just now we have another tool and we got some extra help we need.

It depends on your insurance. For me, I did not even get to see the surgeon until after I did everything my insurance wanted (6 months with a total of 12 dietician visits, exercising at least 30 min a day, sleep study, psychosocial visit, a total of 10 doctor-supervised weight checks and weight loss of at least 5%). After that, I met the surgeon ( at this point my insurance had approved me for surgery). The surgeon is part of a bariatric team and my guidance now comes from them. I had to get a set of labs, a gallbladder ultrasound, and an EKG. I passed all of those and now I am simply waiting to be scheduled. That was all finished by July 11th, 2023.

It depends on your insurance. For me, I did not even get to see the surgeon until after I did everything my insurance wanted (6 months with a total of 12 dietician visits, exercising at least 30 min a day, sleep study, psychosocial visit, a total of 10 doctor-supervised weight checks and weight loss of at least 5%). After that, I met the surgeon ( at this point my insurance had approved me for surgery). The surgeon is part of a bariatric team and my guidance now comes from them. I had to get a set of labs, a gallbladder ultrasound, and an EKG. I passed all of those and now I am simply waiting to be scheduled. That was all finished by July 11th, 2023.

That is unprofessional and scary to think if you had needed medical attention. Of course, if serious you can go to your nearest ER but your bariatric team should be available to you 24/7 for advice and to answer any and all questions you may have. You have every right to request a different doctor for follow-up care. Especially when he tells you he can't help you and doesn't answer emails. Recovery is hard enough without having to worry if he's got your back or best interests at heart. GL!!

It's too bad that people don't view Bariatric surgery for what it is, a medical intervention. Nothing is easy about it except that the tool we are given causes all our efforts to finally actually work for us. People are plain ignorant about the medical reasons behind weight gain. After all the years of working out and dieting with no results, I say we deserve this. But it's easier for them to think we chose surgery over doing the work. No one has said anything negative to me yet, but if they do, I guess I'll have to school them. LOL

@ChunkCat after my post op appointment my Bariatric doctor told me to only take my Ozempic if I stop losing weight.

I use vitamin patches because the bariatric vitamins are so rough on my stomach. Fingers crossed they’re working. I feel pretty good. I do take chewable biotin and calcium. My surgeon was perfectly fine with the patches and even said they’re good early on because of sensitive tummies.

I haven’t had surgery but my bariatric dietician recommended “The Complete Bariatric Cookbook and Meal Plan” and I’ve found it very informative. Some ideas they suggest in week 3 include soft scrambled eggs, refried beans, high protein milk, low fat yogurt and then point to some recipes I’d think you want to puree like chicken and tuna salad, split pea soup, Turkey meatloaf, etc.

Thank you all for confirming that this isn't just me being petty or unwilling to be flexible. I'm going to go to church today and pray and reflect over things and hope to find peace either in backing out or moving forward. I did start my liquid diet yesterday, and also have had to come off my anti inflammatory medications (have arthritis in my spine from a spinal fusion surgery in 2007) so feel like I need to make a decision quickly here. I did "meet" the new surgeon. In mid July they set up a tele health visit, but even that didn't go as planned as they couldn't get the zoom link to work so it ended up just being a phone call. I had my primary care doctor look into his background, and while he's new to Montana (told he was out of the office last week making the move from California), he was program director of a bariatric program in California. His name is Deron Ludwig. I just wish they would have given me the heads up over the past 6 months that Dr. Pickhardt (who I sought out specifically as I know 3 people who have surgery with him) would be leaving the program after July. This couldn't have been that last minute, as he's not leaving medicine, but just no longer doing bariatric surgery, only trauma surgery going forward. I will say though that at least over the phone I found Dr. Ludwig more personable and felt like we had a better discussion than I'd previously had with Dr. Pickhardt. Thanks for listening and hopefully I'll find some peace soon very soon here in deciding if I should move forward with surgery or not. Cannot believe it's 9 days away and I don't know whether I'm going through with it or not!

I had this. Turns out, after my sleeve, I developed polyps all through my entire stomach. The GERD (which I had never had pre sleeve) became so bad it turned into gastritis and esophagitis. I had to take 80mg of Nexium daily and Pepcid for breakthrough GERD (and sometimes that didn't even help). The pain and burning were excruciating. Sent me to the ER more than once. 4 endoscopies and 1 revision to bypass later, and I'm doing great. Stay on top of this. Cut out anything tomato based, avoid any kind of fruit juice, spices (even the ones that aren't hot). Hummus helped a lot, keto bread also helped, and drinking protein shakes literally saved me on days when I couldn't keep anything down at all. The bariatric diet went out the window until this was under control. I had to stop working out because it would set things off. In the ER the first time, I had a barium swallow to confirm there were no leaks. Then I was referred to a GI specialist, who did an endoscopy and found I had A TON of polyps in various sizes. Once they were all removed, I had my revision to bypass and have had to stay on Nexium. But it was lowered to 40mg for 5 weeks, then 20mg for weeks 6-8, then I'll go off them completely. Definitely stay on top of this. It won't resolve on it's own, and if left untreated, it will absolutely get worse.

Just for anyone who may have joined this chat later, there is a Facebook group! It's under "August 2023 Bariatric Surgery Support Group" it's just for us to chat and keep each other on track. Please feel free to join! 🙂

I had it day 2 or 3 post-op. I stood up and felt the whoosh. A lot of blood running down my legs and a very large clot. My mind was racing. I thought I was hemorrhaging at first, but I tried to remain calm. I remembered reading somewhere about our bodies releasing blood after surgery and also hormonal shifting so I told myself to keep an eye on it and if it continued, I would contact the doctor. It stopped the next day, so I was relieved. I'm not sure what would be considered abnormal, but I'd say if it continues for any length of time, it wouldn't hurt to call your bariatric team. Congrats on your recent surgery and speedy recovery. {{hugs}}

The very first visit I had with my bariatric doctor, they clocked me at 182. It was so scary because I didn't even realize how bad it was. It certainly explained my headaches and dizziness at the time.

First post ever here and really struggling... My surgery date is 8/15 and I'm starting to have second thoughts. Not so much about having weight loss surgery, but about whether I am in good hands with my current provider. Long story short NOTHING with this bariatric surgeon's group has ever gone to plan. I did the steps to book my initial consult (educational videos, referral from my primary care provider etc.) and scheduled for January on MLK day. I booked this a couple months in advance so that I could take a friend with me to my consult who had MLK day off work (I live in small town MT so there are no local bariatric surgeons to me). I had requested the day off work as it's a 6 hour round trip to the office. The Thursday before my Monday appointment they called to inform me they were closed for the MLK holiday and had just realized this. So I waited another month and had my consult in February. I knew my insurance required me to complete 6 months nutrition visits, so goal was surgery this summer and I was moving forward with this. My pre op was scheduled for 6/28, and they told me when I scheduled my pre op that surgery would then be within 30 days (in the month of July). I was very excited and looking forward to surgery. I had been clear with them in early June that I was not avail for August surgery and they confirmed with my pre op being on 6/28 surgery would be within 30 days of the pre op. A week prior to my pre op they called to tell me their surgery/clinic days were changing and they had to move me to 6/29, again this is not me taking an hour off work but a full day to drive 6 hours to this office. I was frustrated by this, but was able to change my work schedule. At the appointment I was given a 7/18 surgery date, all the paper work listing my surgery date and dates for the phases of my pre op diet and I signed the consent. and I was so thrilled! Then the surgeon comes back in and when I mentioned surgery on 7/18 his reply was "well that's not going to happen" and I was super confused. I guess he normally does 2 cases per surgery date, but the 1st case on 7/18 was a super complex patient and so he refused to do 2 cases that day. This was not communicated to his staff and I left in tears. They told me as I was leaving the appointment that I could have surgery in August, as there were no more July surgery dates available, but they then dropped the bomb on me that the surgeon is no longer doing bariatric surgery after July (which had never once been mentioned to me at all), so my surgery in August would be with the new surgeon moving to Montana from California! This would also mean spending my birthday in the hospital as my birthday is 8/16. I wanted surgery so badly I even was willing to put up with this change in surgery months, a new surgeon I'd never even met and spending my own birthday in the hospital, but when I had asked a month ago through the MyChart patient portal (thus have it in writing) I was told I was 2nd case on 8/15 with an 8:30 arrival. I clarified that I lived 3 hours away and needed to know if it would possible end up being an early arrival so I could make appropriate plans to travel on Monday 8/14. I was told I was all set for an 8:30 arrival so I planned to leave home at 5:30 on surgery morning as I sleep better in my own bed and didn't want to pay for an extra night in a hotel. Now 2 days ago they told me because of my prior diaphragm surgery I need to be 1st case! I don't have a ride/plans for a 6am arrival and am panicking! This has me questioning majorly whether I am in good hands with this team... will my care post op be any better? If this is how I'm being treated pre op what I can I expect going forward? Am I being petty or does all this seem like a HUGE red flag?