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I have had a rough ride with nausea and vomiting from day 1. My food and calorie intake was really poor. At about 4 months out my calories were about 350 to 500 a day. I just could not meet my protein target. I just stopped loosing weight. It took me another 6 weeks of really hard work, sourcing different foods and trying to up my intake of protein. When I got to around 800 calories a day, my weight began to drop again. I felt so much better and stronger. I have just had a hotel holiday abroad and I have really struggled with the food. My Cal count went back down to 500. I didn't loose any weight once again. Despite all the walking, swimming and dancing I have done.

You will likely soon hit the "three week stall" (do a search for it here) where your loss will slow or stop and possibly even increase a bit. This is entirely normal and totally unrelated to what food phase you are in (people who are still on liquids as well as those who have been on soft foods since the start go through it.) It has to do with the matter that initially you are losing a big chunk of water weight associated with your glycogen stores (basically stored carbohydrate) being depleted due to your low calorie intake. Once that is depleted, your body shifts gears to burn your stored fat, which burns more slowly, so the weight loss slows a bit, too. Entirely normal. In our program they specifically tell us that their patients tend to do better as they move into real food - not strictly from a loss rate perspective, but for the sake of feeling better and more energetic, which leads to being more active and helping to maintain a more sustainable loss over the long haul. I was starting to nibble at the gym again after a couple of weeks, not for the sake of boosting loss rate (it didn't need it...) but for maintaining the habit (and not allowing my wife to use me as an excuse for not going!) I was certainly not burning any more calories there than at home, but more just starting to get a bit more variety in activities.

Im 2 weeks out from surgery and things are going good for now, but I know that eventually Im going to have to start introducing and incorporating real food back into my diet and my calorie intake is going to get higher, I'm just terrified that once I do that even of its 4-500 calories my weight is going skyrocket! Has any one experienced weight gain durring their transitional phases? How did it work out? Did you have to start hitting the gym daily to continue loosing? Can you please share your stories. Thank u

I'm about 5 weeks post-op and struggling to get 64 oz of water in plus 60g protein (60-80 is the goal in my program for right now). I'm curious about other folks who had gastric bypass - how long did it take you to get to your water and protein goals? I can get to 60g protein but only at the cost of my liquids. I feel too full and uncomfortable. I'm supposed to be shifting to soft foods but find that I can't get enough pureed in to stop using shakes. I have an endoscopy scheduled this week to see if there is a stricture but in case there isn't, I'm wondering how others' healing timelines went. Luckily, even though I feel really full, I haven't had any vomiting - but the constipation is real, even though I measure my liquids out and sip constantly. Thanks in advance for your experiences!

This program does things differently than others I have looked at. You go through the classes and tests - once you get through everything then you pick your surgeon and schedule to meet with them - so they can review everything with you. So I won’t pick my surgeon until after my final class (this week) and I was told all the surgeons have varied schedules (some do more than just bariatrics if they specialize in other digestive diseases) so the schedules vary. She did recommend that when they schedule with me I ask about which surgeons have availability in our targeted timeline (if any) - so I suppose that is what I will do. They did great with getting my tests scheduled and completed - I just wish they were able to schedule to meet with the surgeon once the tests were scheduled - rather than wait until the last class … then contact you at some point after. Leaves the timeline to open and uncertain.

Everything that @catwoman7 said. I’d just add: 1: Haven’t heard of any breathing issues post surgery, but if you are a smoker this may be something to watch. See #3. 2: Vomiting is a possibility post surgery but haven’t heard of any one vomiting blood. When I had the awful diarrhoea attack day 3 it was very dark & I presumed it was old blood. 3. Some require you to stop nicotine before surgery. Nicotine will slow your recovery & increases risks for surgical complications. 4: I had trouble swallowing for about three days because of swelling. I was spitting up a lot of saliva. Though not easy, I was still able to sip & swallow meds. I found warm/hot drinks are more soothing that cool/cold. 5: Missing the odd vitamin is ok. We all forget at some time but don’t make it a habit. You don’t want be become lacking in an essential vitamin, mineral or nutrient. I am someone who was allowed off my multivitamins - at 8 months which was 2 months after I reached goal. I was having blood tests every three months (sometimes more) & my surgeon told me if there were any drops I’d be back on the multi vitamin. Three years out & my bloods are still good. Lethargy & energy drops in the weeks post surgery aren’t uncommon. You’re healing, recovering, & on a reduced diet. Adding an electrolyte drink can help, as does getting in your fluids, protein & vitamins & resting when you need to. 6: Pre existing reflux usually rules you out for a sleeve as sleeves are predisposed to develop reflux/gerd post surgery. Being prescribed a PPI (acid reducer) post surgery for a couple of months is pretty common as your tummy tends to produce excess stomach acid while healing & in response to changes to your digestive system & eating. Personally, I’d had reflux for years before my surgery. It was pretty mild. I controlled it with dietary choices & rarely took medication - a couple of times a year maybe. I still have reflux. It’s still not very bad but it manifests differently. I still watch my food choices & take a PPI every day.

I'm 9 weeks out on Tuesday.

Nowadays if you test positive for covid you only have to quarantine 5-7 days instead of 2 weeks. If you tested positive on the 1st and your screening is the 9th, I would think you'd be ok, as long as you don't have any symptoms. If you start to have any, then I'm pretty sure all bets are off.

I unfortunately have the same issue... After 1 week I started to break out on my face a bit. Im not almost a month and I still have a few pimples on my face left...

Thank you all for these suggestions... Its been ridiculous taking all of these pills... I have a follow up in 2 weeks and will discuss it with them... THANK YOU!!! And for the people who mentioned what multivitamin im taking is flintstones knockoff that the hospital gave me .

Yep, I'm there now. Or at least, heading that way. We've been together for 17 years, and the first 3 weeks after surgery, he was great. Now he's always yelling, literally screeches at me, picks fights, is miserable for who knows what reason. He was going to so the surgery and changed his mind. He went back to a vegan diet that he did years ago when he lost 120 pounds in 1 year. He's already cheated on it multiple times and lost motivation. I think he's on the verge of quitting. He was working out with me, then decided he's too tired or has other things to do or doesn't feel good or doesn't feel like it. So he quit. He's done this throughout his life. He starts something, it gets hard, he quits. Did it with work, did it with college, does it with everything. It's always bothered me, but I overlooked it because he was funny and sweet and fun and loving. Now it's getting harder and harder to overlook it. I try every day to remember what I love about him and why I'm still here. But that, too, is getting harder.

I’m 4 days post op and doing good, I think. I feel like I’ve done 1000 sit ups. I’m getting plenty of fluids compared to what the dietician mentioned. I can stomach sugar free pudding with protein powder added. I am ready for the next 3-4 weeks to fly by as I really want a bite of real food. Watching my husband eat is mentally exhausting. Thankfully he tries to eat his meals while I’m not around but that’s not always possible. I keep saying my stomach isn’t hungry but my head is. 🤣

Congratulations! That is awesome. I can identify with that feeling. I am also a daily weigher....not good , I know. I am anxiously awaiting my journey back to the 1s, hopefully that will be in a couple weeks. I want to be in that category by my daughter's wedding which will be on the 31st. There's this sexy dress I want to wear, so far, it almost fits as I'm shedding a lot of inches.

pre-op diets vary so much between clinics that it's hard to answer that. And some clinics don't even require a pre-op diet at all. My clinic didn't allow any solid food at all - just clear liquids and 4-5 protein shakes a day for two weeks. So...I don't really know the answer to your question. I suspect you'll be OK, but if you're concerned, call your clinic.

I was 6/27 and I’m waiting for this. I read nearly everyone stalls around week 3 so it’s normal.

I'm curious what people having surgery in August are doing right now to prepare. It doesn't seem real yet so I've only started thinking about what I need to do or buy in preparation. I did finally order a reclining chaise that was on clearance at a local furniture store to sleep in for the first week or so. Sent from my SM-N986U using BariatricPal mobile app

I have heard of this before. When we are overweight we loose ourselves and hide behind family and try to stay as small as possible and hide in the shadows. Gradually we are no longer the people we were. I used to work in a Adult Education College. Every two years a new full time Art Course began. There were lots of middle aged ladies took the course and over the 30 hour week they put in these ladies slowly changed, their personalities and confidence began to blossom. You could physically see it happen. Many of these ladies left their husbands. They were different. My husband was finished from his very physical job because of his ill health and lost all his confidence. It really shook him and he changed for the worse. I was his verbal punch bag. I took it for 2 years. I found somewhere else to live and gave him the ultimatum. You stop all this mental cruelty and go back to the man I love or I am gone in a week. With in a day he was back to the man I know and deeply love. He had it all but couldn't see it. What I am trying to say in a roundabout way is confidence or lack of it, changes us. It changes the people around us. I would put a plan in place just so you have a bolt hole. Try speaking to your husband, tell him how you feel, try counselling. You never know you may meet in the middle again. You will always know you tried everything

I joyfully kissed all my shakes away on day one week three. It was always my goal to rely on real food to get all my nutrients in & not depend upon supplements or meal replacements. My surgeon was also okay if I was not hitting my protein goal while going through the first stages as long as I was making an effort so that took off some pressure. But as @ShoppGirl said it does depend upon how much you can eat. (I wasn’t able to eat much but usually hit 40-50g of my 60g protein goal.) I found a good high protein yoghurt (15-20g) & a yoghurt smoothie (22-30g) to keep my protein closer to goal. I also did things like make my scrambled eggs & rolled oats extra milky to get in a little more protein. But being lactose intolerant I realise this isn’t quite as easy for you. Were you given a caloric goal or a recommended carb intake or limit? How many extra carbs or calories are you getting in by consuming lactose free/dairy alternative products? Because we eat so little it would take a lot to really have a negative impact on your weight loss. I drink a lactose free milk because I can’t drink a lot of ordinary milk. (No issue with other dairy though.) And even though it has about double the calories, it didn’t have an impact on my weight loss. Milk alternatives can actually have fewer calories than cows milk (per 100mls): Full cream cow’s milk – 281 kilojoules (67 calories) Rice milk – 255 kilojoules (61 calories) Regular soy milk – 241 kilojoules (58 calories) Oat milk – 213 kilojoules (51 calories) Reduced-fat cow’s milk – 191 kilojoules (46 calories) Reduced-fat soy milk – 153 kilojoules (37 calories) Skim cow’s milk – 142 kilojoules (34 calories) Sweetened almond milk – 123 kilojoules (29 calories) Sweetened cashew milk – 123 kilojoules (29 calories) Coconut milk – 95 kilojoules (23 calories) Unsweetened cashew milk – 73 kilojoules (18 calories) Unsweetened almond milk – 69 kilojoules (16 calories) Same with carb content. Macadamia milk: 1 gram of carbs/cup Hemp milk: 1.3 grams of carbs/cup Soy milk: 1.6 grams of carbs/cup Almond milk: 1.99 grams of carbs/cup Flax milk: 2 grams of carbs/cup Coconut milk: 3.38 grams of carbs/cup Oat milk: 9 grams of carbs/cup cows milk: 12grams of carbs/cup Have a chat with your dietician. They should be able to recommend lower calorie or lower carb alternatives if your intake is excessive for you to try. PS - Stalls rarely have anything to do with the calories or carbs you are consuming but are a natural part of your weight loss journey. Your rate of loss is never constant but zigs & zags, ups & downs & plateaus. Your body stalls or takes a pause (as I heard a surgeon say recently) to catch up with the changes - surgery, weight loss, change in diet or activity, etc. Think of it as your body is stressed & it needs time to recover & accept the changes. Just like you do if emotionally or mentally stressed.

Pantoprozole (Protonix) is also available OtC. Depending upon insurance details, OTC may or may not be cheaper than Rx - OTC omeprazole is usually around $15 at Costco for 42, sometimes on sale for a few bucks less. Use the one that works best for you. Also try Pepcid, which is an H2 inhibitor and is generally considered friendlier to our systems long term than PPIs such as the -azole meds above. The PPIs are also known to have a problem with rebound reflux if you stop them suddenly, so it is usually better to wean off of them over a couple of weeks - cut the dosage in half or spread the dose timing, or intersperse a dose of PPI with one of H2I. Some may never have a problem with dropping them, but if one does, try tapering off the med.

We’re all different in how much & what we can eat. Were you given any portion size recommendations? I scrambled my eggs from purée stage & two eggs were breakfast for three days. It took me months to eat one egg. (I remember ordering one egg scrambled at 8 months while on holidays.) Still can’t eat two eggs three years out. Tread carefully because all your cut nerves are still healing and your full signals & messages you’ve had enough aren’t getting through or aren’t getting through in the same way. It’s why portion size recommendations are helpful at the beginning. (I was told 1/4 - 1/3 cup from purée.) Burping signals you are swallowing air while eating not that you are full. Also aim to eat until you’ve had enough (do you need the next bite or just want it) not until you are full. It takes time for the full message to get through so when you feel full you’ve really eaten too much. Sorry soup made you sick. I loved soup. Could it have been too thick or something in the soup - a flavour or ingredient??

Thanks @kristieshannon. I spied it last summer but decided it against it. It was on sale (40% off 🎉🎉) last week & the only skirt & top left were in my size. Obviously always meant to be mine so it now lives in my wardrobe. Love you in that blue. And congrats on commencing ‘official boyfriend’ status. So happy for you.

Good point. My doctor had a month’s prescription for Protonix filled prior to surgery. It’s an acid blocker and I will take it at least for another few weeks.

I was prescribed pantoprazole for 30 days after surgery as well. They would not refill that script even tho i requested it. But i have not had any heart burn since tho a few weeks after surgery it was strong. My primary doctor gives me a script for Omeprazole. Which is available over the counter at any store but its much cheaper with a prescription.

I was advised to slowly decrease the Shakes as I was able to eat larger portions. If you can only eat an ounce of chicken you aren’t going to be able to get enough protein from food. Well technically if you also eat a bunch of yogurt you can but you get my point. I am over a year out and still have a shake for breakfast everyday but that’s more for convenience and cause I like the taste of it (the caffe latte by premiere protein) many people get off them alltogether. But my advice would be to calculate your protein (not counting the shakes and yogurt) for a week or so and see if you consistently get to 30 or 60 or something like that and drop a shake as you can or just calculate for each day if you eat a lot of variety and have a shake or yogurt as a late snack if you need it.

Question??? How did you transition from mostly using shakes to getting your protein from food sources? I started really tracking what I am eating due to my 3 week stall. I'm noticing that due to my milk allergy that most of the shakes and yogurts I eat are a bit higher in carbs and calories than I would like and noticed I am more reliant on the shakes than food to get my protein in. How hard was the transition? Should I gradually start eliminating the shakes? Thanks for any info you could share.