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Are you getting in 64 ounces of fluid , like 8 8ounce glasses or 4. 16 ounce water bottles? Are you getting protein thats sufficent, Maybe 60 grams or a little more. Are your calories 600 to 800 daily? That's pretty a much smaller amount than an average daily diet. But,we are recovering from major surgeries, mine was almost,a month before yours and I'm still in the process. Matter of fact, I am losing weight like gang-busters, like 30-some pounds. I have been having problems with my new stomach,pouch. And I am basically living on broths, strained soups, protein shakes, vitamins minerals ulcer medicine and Zofran for my nausea. And I'm telling you just because that is the way it is. Yeah I did go into this to lose lots of weight, but it is scary to do it that way. And I will hear,from Dietary/Nutrition at my Bariatric Hospital in the morning, because I am overdue for a new stage of diet but I can't progress for 2 more weeks per my surgeon. Orignal plan was to have me back to small portions of regular food by Thanksgiving and I don't,think it will happen. Surgeon has stretched my pouch opening twice, next time to try,again November 9th and I will be 9 and half weeks then! So you see I have a problem also. I'm not getting enough nutrition to do working out quite yet.

Talk to your nutritionist or bariatric team. They can help you sort out a good menu and give you some advice for getting things moving again. The three week stall is so legendary and typical, it has several threads here if you search. Hang in there and try to be patient. You're not alone and it will be ok.

Surgery was on the 16th! Down 12lbs since surgery, 30 total since pre-op diet. First 2 days, I was miserable. Felt like a human 1 week after. Having a heck of a time with the bariatric fusion shakes...they make me want to vomit instantly. Already starting to eat turkey and chicken (very small, thoroughly chewed pieces) and beans. Wondering what everyone else is doing and how you're tolerating different foods? Hope everyone is doing well and you're happy!

The ghouls and goblins don't just knock on your door yelling "Trick Or Treat"! They sometimes reside in the so-called "Customer Service" departments of health insurers, proving on a daily basis that they are not interested in their Customers and not usually capable of providing Service. We thought some of these stories, and we have oodles of them, made for an appropriately ghastly Halloween blog. Make sure you read all the way to the end so you can see what the Devil has in store for some of these folks in the insurance industry! "I don't have to give you any information about your appeal!" While this particular horror story involved an Aetna appeal years ago, problems like this happen all the time and we still can substitute the name of nearly every other major insurer for Aetna and have a similar tale to tell. Kelley was following up on an appeal we filed and was requesting confirmation that things were in process and inquiring about the status. The "Customer Service" person simply refused to provide any information despite confirming were the appealing patient's representative. So what......she just wasn't going to give any information to our office. Many reading this will know how incredibly nice Kelley is. If you don't know her then you can be certain her reputation for patience in matters like this is beyond dispute. Since this representative obviously wasn't going to budge Kelley calmly requested to speak to a supervisor. That's when things got interesting. The representative refused to transfer the call, stating the issue "did not rise to the level of involving a manager." A full thirty minutes later, after repeatedly demanding to speak with a supervisor and ultimately threatening to file a complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Insurance, Kelley was finally transferred to a Supervisor's voicemail, who got an earful of "message" from our office concerning what occurred. Kelley suggested the Supervisor listen to the recording of her exchange with the service representative because (don't forget) "this call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes." When the Supervisor called Kelley back she profusely apologized and confirmed the customer service personnel are required to transfer the member to a supervisor immediately upon request and that the representative was way out of line. The happy ending to the story is ultimately that Aetna approved the RNY gastric bypass that was the subject of our appeal! "I'm sorry but you don't have any right to appeal or obtain an IRO of this denial." There are some insurers who try to eliminate patient rights to appeal, especially appeals occurring before the surgery takes place. Some denials are labeled as coming from "courtesy reviews" with no appeals available. (I personally find it interesting they use the term "courtesy review" when they rarely do much of a "review" and hardly ever show any "courtesy" . . . but I digress. . . .) BCBS of Alabama is among a number of payers who sometimes try to bar appeals. It is very rare that appeals are not available prior to having surgery so don't just accept their statements as being true. We know when they are playing games and most of the time companies (like BCBS of Alabama) end up processing the appeal and when (shock of shocks) they tell us the member appeal was denied, we request an "external review." BCBS of Alabama, of course, has an unusually high level of incompetence so we should not have been shocked their response was that the member actually did not have external review available because the denial we received resulted from (you guessed it) a "courtesy review." Unbelievable! Enter Kelley (you'd think these companies would know better) who spoke to 2 different Supervisors about the situation, each of whom provided her with different (yet both still INCORRECT) stories about the nature of the member's rights. After spending one hour and 10 minutes on the phone Kelley was finally transferred to an "Operations Manager" who was truly horrified at what occurred. She immediately initiated an expedited IRO request and 7 days later our client was approved! When the dust cleared Kelley and the Operations Manager had a conversation and she again apologized for all the misinformation which was conveyed and assured us that they were using this case as a "teaching example" for their customer service personnel. "You didn't think that just because we APPROVED your surgery after your appeal we're actually going to PAY for it too, did you?!?" It can be truly horrifying for the physician and facility to not get paid after successfully getting an approval. Worse still are patients like us who fear getting HUGE bills even though we thought everything was settled after "winning" a pre-surgery appeal. This can happen, usually when the maze of insurance company Departments fail to update their systems to show things were approved. We sometimes need to go back to a payer, even after a successful appeal, and re-start the battle. It can time time, patience and knowledge to successfully navigate the insurer's system to get this fixed. Fortunately every time this happens we have gotten these claim denials resolved and re-processed for payment before the providers and patients turn into angry villagers storming Frankenstein's castle to chase these Monsters for the payment they are due. So as I wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween, I offer special greetings (and a warning) to insurance company executives and their customer service representatives who seemingly delight in making patients and providers miserable. They need to stop now. A number of years ago, at the Obesity Action Coalition's first Your Weight Matters conference, my costume included a button warning those in the insurance industry who do not change their ways. . .Hopefully they listen! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I know there are a lot of folks who won't like this information, won't believe it, and don't want to hear about it. There are an equal number of folks who are concerned and are trying to learn all they can about it. Most bariatric patients eat 20%+ of their calories from protein. Worse, most bariatric patients eat mostly animal sources of protein....meat, eggs, cheese, milk...all the whey drinks. Traditional dietary advice for the bariatric patient puts the patient distinctly at odds with emerging findings on protein's effect on IGF-1.... and is a diet that significantly increases the odds of cancer in people under 65. The effect is a person who is working very very hard...potentially leaping out of the frying pan into the fire. If you're eating 20%+ of your calories from protein, and particularly, animal protein...this is research that you should be aware of, and have access to weigh for yourself. This affects you. MOST folks here have been or currently are in this category. You may decide to do nothing. You may decide to talk to your doctor or dietitian about it. You may decide to do more research. I'm not telling anyone what to do. You may decide to make some small changes. Replace a whey protein product with a pea protein product. Eat a little less cheese and a few more nuts. Have less dairy pudding and more Chia seed pudding. Maybe have a veggie burger once a week and omit a serving of beef. Maybe you'll make some big changes....maybe you'll be comfortable with small changes....or no changes at all. Awareness of these studies is at best.....important...and at worst...harmless. People have a right to make up their own minds.

Hi all, sleeved on Jan 31,2018. SW 265 and am 5ft 8".CW is 205, so only 60lb down. I need to lose another 25 or 30lb, but it's taking forever. Just recently returned from a month long holiday in Europe, so way too much eating and drinking. BUT I didn't gain any weight, so guess I should be happy about that. I know and understand protein requirements and limitations of carbs and sugars in or diets, as well as regular exercise. If you say it really quickly, then it doesn't hurt at all! But seriously, if we all found that diet and exercise easy to follow,then we would never have needed bariatric surgery! So I get a little frustrated when posters boast about their "new" diet plans that they follow religiously and their exercise that they do 5 days a week. How come it's all of a sudden so easy to do?

You may have to ask the surgeon why his requirements are different. We are not surgeons and cannot answer the “why” of the differences in bariatric programs/preferences. We can only speak of our own experience, similar to your friends that were able to drink regular protein shakes.

@Medowsweet Oh no!! Of all people that did this - coming from HR - whole situation is terrible If HR person asked who is calling? Bariatric Center should have said that a doctors office was calling. Or take their phone # and you will call back. If Bariatric center volunteered who they were - that was not right!! obviously this was not handled well good luck w/surgery kathy

Oh no! That is such a HIPPA violation...especially sad coming from HR!!! You have every right to be upset and to submit a formal complaint. Oregon Bariatric was in the wrong for disclosing who they were and so was your HR colleague who yelled across the room.

My HR person called me across the room and said (in an almost confused voice?) that Oregon Bariatric was on the phone for me on line 1!!!! I was totally embarrassed and now I feel aweful. I don't know who heard.... And I feel all suspicious and paranoid and upset. I can't concentrate on work. ((I asked them to call my cell, they said they did but couldn't get through, come to find out my phone was out of batteries.))

Just short of a few days from 5 months since my VSG surgery. So far I have lost 55 lbs. To be honest with you I could have lost more than this by now but my commitment level to exercise and to eating what I should not has not been as it should. I am not ungrateful for loosing 55 lbs, dont get me wrong, but I know i have also eaten crap that if i did not do that I would be at a better weight loss bracket. You really have to be fully committed BEFORE you start this surgery and I only realize it now. I had some misconceptions about the surgery and thought that it would 'carry' me more without the level of personal responsibility and commitment it actually takes. I thought that my appetite would be next to nothing but immediately following the surgery I felt starving. My appetite never really waned but its true that you do fill up quickly - thank God for stomach restriction! I still cant eat most meats and I do not have 'meals' yet per se, I like soups, but I do get calories in by things that are called slider foods. A cookie, some chocolate, some ice cream……..all no nos for weight loss. So while I have lost a lot of weight and look quite different already (2 people I ran into last week actually did not recognize me!) I am doing better in changing my eating habits still compared to what I used to. And my glucose levels are MUCH better but this TAKES WORK! You experience weight loss plateaus,. At 4 months I reached a particular weight band and I have vacillated in the 5 lbs up and 5 lbs down range for 2 months now. Its SO FRUSTRATING! I am able to eat a lot more than before so around 4 months you have to really make an effort to restrict your calorie intake. I brought WAY TOO MUCH stuff before surgery LOL I am a type A person and like to be very organized. I bought too much post surgery medication. I bought lots of bariatric surgery paraphernalia like food measuring devices and things that I have never used once. I did use the waist binder for 2 months and was glad I bought that but not even the GasX strips work. Seriously, I bought so many of them and they don't really work. What works is a nice HOT cup of tea! Gas comes right up. All this bloody GasX strips I have and wayyyyyyyyy too many antacids. I need the antacids but I bought TOO many. I only get acid reflux occasionally. Buy things AS you need them. Don't by bra's in advance anticipating weight loss. Your boobs change shape and cup size. I made that mistake. I am no longer a DD but a D and I bought smaller back sizes at DD and now the cup is too big!

So last month (7 Sept 2018) I had an emergency surgery because I had a blocked bowel. It happens (not sure how it took almost two years after my gastric bypass, but), not to everyone, but it happened to me. So they took me to one hospital ER that was close by my work. It took them an hour to get me into a bed and they finally took me to get a CT Scan. It took two hours to get any type of information from the CT Scan and I was told that I "may possibly" have a blocked bowel. They needed to consult with a surgeon. About an hour later they came back and said that I had a blocked bowel but that the hospital I was at didn't do any type of bariatric surgery. So they said they would transfer me to their sister hospital that does this type of surgery. They called for an ambulance and my wife drove over to the other hospital (about 5 or 6 miles away). Three hours later the ambulance came for me. The other hospital kept calling because they had a surgical team waiting for me. Surgery went well (although I am not bouncing back as fast from this surgery) and I was doing ok. I was trying to get the surgical notes for my bariatric surgeon (just so he could have a record of what was done) and I ran across the CT Scan notes. It turns out I have a possible IPMN (Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm) (or possibly pancreatic cancer) in the head of my pancreas. Nobody from the hospital told me about this and if I hadn't of been looking for the reports for my surgeon I would never have known. Now I have to wait until 13 Nov 2018 to go to a specialist and see what is going on. Needless to say, I have googled this and am now pretty shaken up. I don't blame the surgeon (he was just there to unblock the bowel, (which they said if I would have waited any longer the bowel would have started to die) but I really think that some doctor from either one of the hospitals would have said, "Hey, you might want to get this checked out." Sorry for rambling on about this, just worried.

Well I was a hair under 6 feet in my youth, bariatric surgeon tells me between menopausal settling, my vertebrae getting less fat and the strain of b lugging around over 300 pounds on my spine, I am now 5foot 8,5 inches. I have heard of,people who grew a inch in measurement, maybe when less weight they stood up straighter? 😝Anyway I am what i am and that better be GOOD ENOUGH!

Yep blubber,and fat, it is a pain. You,look at your naked body and think "This cannot,be ME! I have lost,over 50 pounds since The End of July, started out good, extremely,optomistic and then a couple of weeks in, I started saying I think I might,her a strictute, because I could not m9ve into the next diet sequence. And,the bariatric staff,kept,telling me, Early Days, you are just swollen, you'll be,just fine! Look,how nicely your weight is going,down! Yeah,People,but I have not had joy in THIS process!! So on the 12th of October an repeat EGJ was done, and my,guess was correct, I do have a strictute of my stoma and,I have developed 5 additional ulcers, I had 1 already, Hector, asleep in the walled-off section of my stomach, two of the new ones are in my stomach -pouch, the,other 3 on the back wall of the jejunem, the area,of the small intestine now attached to,my stomach pouch. And PRECIOUS,POUCH is a cranky soul, she,only keeps down liquids, no purees, no soft solids. Since,i am doing,my best to get,there? vitamins, minerals, Zofran for nausea, Carafate and omeprazole to calm down myself ulcers and company, sufficent,fluids and protein shakes, my surgeon and. his partner think I can go on with this liquid limited diet, but it will be 8 weeks Wednesday since,my surgery. And last Friday, the 26th, Dr Noria, my surgeon's partner, went down again and opened me another mm? but,told,me to continue my diet as it is, and we will be trying,once again, November 9th?. read a study from Cleveland Clinic and some people need to be reopened 3 or more times. Trying to remain upbeat and positive in such a position, wonder if i will require a stent or something there? But Happy Holloween, maybe,my TREAT will be a little late this year!😟🎃-😝🍀

I just got insurance approval on Friday; hoping to get a date this week. My only health issues are two failing knees that need replacing. Supposed to start that in the spring, if I can make it that long. Sux to get old. Bariatric surgery is my birthday present to me

Hi there! I should be in January too. I am switching from my husbands insurance to my employers insurance for January 1st. His employers policy does not have a bariatric rider on it, mine does. So I am jumping through the hoops too.........just think, Thursday is November! Only 2 months after that!!! How I am staying on track is just making sure I journal everything and sticking with my exercise. The exercise is not a problem. I love to workout, but because of my weight, I can't do the things I enjoy most. Anyway, my surgeons rule is no food diary, no surgery. So I am being very diligent with it. This Friday I have a weight check with my PCP and then next Wednesday I have appointments with the dietitian and the psych eval. I will be SO happy to have those two things out of the way.

Thank you. What is the process like to get approved in Australia? As I am sure you have read on here, for those of us in the US it is all depending on the insurance you have and if your employer has the rider in the contract to allow bariatric services. I am currently on my husbands insurance and they do not allow bariatric surgery. My employers plan does allow it though. So open enrollment is in a couple of weeks and I am moving from his insurance to my insurance. That will take effect the first of the year. In the meantime, I made sure to choose a doctor and hospital that both insurances allow so i can at least get started in the process and not have to pay that much out of pocket. Where I live, my house is in a fairly rural area. The hospital closest to me does not have bariatric surgeons. So my choices were to go about 50 miles south to Pittsburgh or go to another town about 30 miles west. I am going with the Dr and hospital just to my west. I like the Dr. and the office staff very much and it will be much easier for my family to get to and from that hospital than one of the ones in Pittsburgh.

You might enjoy watching the video journals of bariatric patients on youtube if you haven't already. It's kinda fun to watch people talk about their experiences. Good luck!

Your fatigue concerns me. Sounds like you're eating really sensibly and mindfully...so you really should have energy. Two ideas... 1. Get a physical. Not a bariatric physical...but a regular one. See if your regular doc has any ideas. If that checks out and s/he thinks you're physically ok, maybe try... 2. Have a visit with a bariatric therapist. Sometimes losing a lifelong coping mechanism and all the changes we go through...can have emotional fall out we don't realize. Can cause some depression that can put us off our game. Can't hurt to look into if nothing else is making sense. Best wishes! Feel better soon!

One more and then I promise to let the subject die. See the more I ponder on it, I think maybe Daddy,loved me in his fashion but there was disfunction there. Last example my parents were married 6 weeks past their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Apparently the Sunday closest to the actual date they, between Sunday School and Church , renewed their vows. I knew nothing about it, one of my co-workers who also attended that church told me about it a week later. I felt l8ke I had egg on my face over that. She must have thought me a horrid daughter that I did not attend. Although I worked many weekends I did have that day off. S9 I went to their retirement flat to ask them, if they were planning such a thing, why was I not invited? Daddy's Rationale: I WAS NOT THERE WHEN THEY WERE MARRIED, WHY WOULD I WANT TO BE THERE THEN? Neither was the bulk of the Church people watching, the majority where my age or younger. And Fotr My Children, I still cry inside at that cruelty shown, I did my best to be good, cause no trouble, didn't date bad boys, truth be told I never dated anyone while under their roof. Brought home good grades, was never an embarrassment to the famility. Tell me, What mo4e could I do to win their love?💦😥💦

Hi am from Uk been with weight loss team at local hospital now for 9 months now had to show that I could loose weight and sustain the loss for 6 months which I did ,got the all clear from the weight loss committee now got one stop appointment with bariatric team and surgeon next month to get final ok for surgery.

You are inflating the issue. 60 to 100 is the norm. Same as you. The topic is creating an slanted view on how bariatric patients eat. But we can agree to disagree. Again thanks for the info.

Topic absolutely applies to bariatrics. Eating too much protein can increase your odds of cancer, diabetes, renal failure and other illnesses associated with premature aging. MANY people here post menus that include more than 100g of protein per day. There are a lot of clinics that encourage their patients to eat as much protein as they can tolerate. It's terrible and potentially dangerous advice...particularly when people see it as a means to get thinner quicker. Also...if these threads are not of interest to you and you don't find them of value, you are welcome to ignore them, or even block me. I've blocked a few posters I find unpleasant or uninteresting... and have had a much better experience at BP since I have:)

Beating the point back to you. You eat 60 grams of protein like any other bariatric patient. So we can agree this is not a high protein diet. Topic does not apply to bariatrics but thanks for the information.

My best friend and I go out to lunch several times a month. About 3 years ago, she developed an aggressive form of breast cancer. Part of her treatment was to become vegetarian. We both would have suffered if she didn't want to meet up with me because she couldn't eat what I ate. Instead, I made it my challenge to find great tasting vegan/vegetarian restaurants that she hadn't tried yet. Even if I ate some grilled chicken, she was ok, because we had gone somewhere that had good, tempting options for her, as well. After I had my surgery, we found places that were not only vegetarian but offered bariatric-friendly soups, too. Maybe your friends can help you identify the best virgin-drinks in town or offer to be your ride (once you can have a drink or two). Another great support is someone (or more) who are willing to share a couple of bites of their meals with you so that you get the experience without having to waste an entire entree. Giving up our former relationship with food causes grieving and we can go through the steps of grief. You are in the anger stage right now, but you will transition through it and life will be good again.