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My prayer request is for a renewed spirit. I have allowed the enemy to set up camp in my mind, I gained most of my weight back and I’m struggling to get back on track.. pray as you feel led

So I looked up the Bariatric Advantage chewy supplement and compared it to the Flintstones Complete. The Bariatric Advantage says to take two chews and listed almost exactly twice the DV of each vitamin as the Flintstones Complete which states take one. The exception was that B-vitamins, especially B12 were much higher in the Bariatric Advantage chews, and the BA chew did not have any iron. The chews were also $30 for 60 chews...pretty sure 60 Flintstones Completes are less than that. In both cases an additional calcium supplement would be necessary; the BA chews would need an iron supplement and the Flintstones would need the B- vitamins supplemented. Additionally, the vitamin/mineral Daily Values (DV) set by the FDA are the SAME for adults and children 4 and over- so the comparisons of the labels is really apples to apples. All OTC vitamins are produced by the poorly regulated dietary supplement industry, slapping a "bariatric" label on a bottle doesn't magically make it better.

My people! Hello! It is so nice to see this thread! (I am not exactly a gal; I'm non-binary, but I was assigned female at birth and pass as female in spaces where I don't feel comfortable being "out." I hope it's OK if I hang out here. I have about had it with dudes, right now.) I don't put my weight in my profile, because, I'm not sure why. I feel like my writing style is pretty distinctive, and I worry that someone will identify me based on what I say here and then will know what I weighed? ... Look, anxiety isn't rational. Anyway, I started just under 350. I set a goal weight for myself based on the BMI chart (even though it is ridiculous and unscientific), but honestly? If I get under 220, I don't think there's anything I will want that I can't have. I'm not even really having this surgery explicitly for the weight loss; I'm doing it to get my arthritis under control. (The weight loss is part of that, and believe me, I'm excited about it. But I wouldn't have signed up for it if not for the arthritis.) I'm self-pay (which will completely clean out my savings--probably with some debt to boot), so I don't have a mandatory insurance waiting period, and I just wrote a really long message to my bariatric team, begging them to reconsider their "you must lose 10% of your starting weight before we'll operate on you" policy. It isn't science-based (I didn't tell them that; I wanted to convince them, not make them mad), and it is making other parts of my life significantly more difficult. I get bronchitis every single winter, and if they push my surgery off until mid-winter and I get bronchitis before then, 1) I can't have surgery until probably at least April, and 2) my deductible will reset. (The surgery isn't covered, but it'll still count toward what's left of my very, very high deductible.) Also, my clearances will start to expire, which is expensive and time-consuming. Also, I've gone back to school, and my easy classes are this semester; I can't miss 2-3 weeks of class, next semester. Anyway, if they hold fast on their arbitrary numbers, I think I will start investigating other surgical teams in town. So, hi, that's my life story. Nice to meet you all!

It seems that there are either far less guys getting bariatric surgery -or- far less that are on the boards. I have to Agree with Matt though, there are no plus sized stores that I know of for men. Yes, there are big and tall formal wear stores, but if it comes down to casual wear, you're typically out of options. Most of your typical stores max out with a 44" waist jean. Walmart does carry wrangler in a size 46, plus a few unheard-of jeans in as high as 50 -- but, it is very rare to actually find them on the shelf. When it comes to shirts, I usually don't have a problem finding up to 2X, but 3X and 4X is few and far between. K-Mart tends to have a bigger selection, but where can I find an open K-mart, LOL? As far as walmart goes, I think the "fat tax" is $2 or $3 over MSRP But to be honest, I agree with it. Clothing/Cotton/leather is a commodity, and let's be honest, they could make almost two pairs of 30" waist pants out of a 50" waist. Should the manufacturers have to "hold the line" on pricing? I don't think so. I see it no different than cell phone service where you pay by the data per month, internet service where you pay by the bandwidth, and steaks where you pay by the ounce. I travel a lot, and I honestly wish that there was a way to pay-by-the-inch (Width) for seats. You either have 17.3 to 18" of width in the cattle class, or something like 24" in the aristocrat section. All I want is a 20" wide seat and go ahead and give me a pathetic 28" pitch...and I'd happily pay for it. Nevertheless, with the average American gaining some girth, I have to wonder why stores seem to hold the line on Medium/Large and not venture into the larger-than-large sizes. If it's a "negative motivator" to obesity, then why are there dozens of brands of cigarettes when (out here in California) they are banned pretty much anywhere. I've gotten way off topic... I wish, and I feel that Matt and other men would agree, that there would be a nationwide chain that carries casual clothes (Looking at you Lane Bryant). Even if it was more money, I would shop there simply because I know that I could get a pair of pants and a decent shirt, instead of hoping to find something that will fit somewhere else. I guess my last point - Getting back to the "Fat tax". As I said before, the commodity and even the risk/reward for creating patterns for a smaller production run (ad infinitum) seems justifiable, but I do think there is a limit to that philosophy. The $2-$3 extra for pants at Walmart is a deal if you ask me, but, if it cost $20 more, or some multiple of the original price, then I would whole-heartedly agree that price gouging was taking place.

Hi! My two cents for what it’s worth. I have been making the things I want as bariatric friendly as possible. I’m enjoying adapting the meals my husband eats into low carb low sugar low fat as much as I can and enjoying what I eat. It’s just been a few things but I made myself a mini quesidilla, I had veggie chicken nuggets, I made “taco rice” without the rice and 1 ounce of each thing. I used zero calorie BBQ sauce and it was awesome on the nuggets. So, while this doesn’t answer your question specifically, if you are feeling like you want something consider looking up and adjusting the recipe. I don’t know the foods you listed but one thing I can say is that I have stuck with my program but I’m still enjoying what I eat. So yea, doesn’t answer the question but hope it’s helpful. :-)

The RN at my Bariatric Center stated that many times people seek revision after the sleeve due to GERD. This isn’t an issue for me. When both options (sleeve and bypass) were presented to me, and I was told that I could develop GERD even without a history of it if I had the sleeve, I was convinced that I wanted nothing to do with the sleeve. Taking vitamins is no hardship, but having to contend with something like GERD was a dealbreaker. And sleeve people have to take vitamins, too, so why not go with he bypass.

The RN at my Bariatric Center stated that many times people seek revision after the sleeve due to GERD. This isn’t an issue for me.

Congrats to you and your husband! Wow, losing 6 stone and actually keeping it off with surgery alone is really a major accomplishment!!! He should be proud of himself. I have lost lots of weight in the past, but then I hit a wall and can't lose any more--get frustrated--and then after a while start to slip up. Once that happens, it seems like 2 or 3 months later all the weight is back and then some. I can't do this yo yo dieting any more---it's literally killing me. I really feel for you guys suffering through NHS process in the UK. Despite all of the current scientific data, the UK (and in other countries with socialized medical systems) huge demand for these procedures and not enough doctors available to perform them (nor the hospital capacity). So it all gets rationed out and they make the process hard that only a handful of people make it to the surgeon's table. It takes the average person that qualifies for bariatric surgery in the UK an average of over 2.7 years to get from the initial referral from the patient's GP to the surgery theater (as of 2016) and that's assuming you get through those arbitrary barriers to treatment once you get the referral to secondary care. Just to get your GP to give you a referral for secondary care requires you to jump through tons of hoops so you can document your weight loss attempts and lifestyle changes for the referral. In reality, you're talking a 5+ year process for most people in the UK, depending on whether you have a GP that is willing to spend the 10 minutes to write you a referral and not shame you for being fat (Imagine if they did that to someone that suffered from anorexia or some other eating disorder, much less someone with cancer or drug addiction). One study was completed in 2016 that tracked 22 people through the NHS process for bariatric starting in 2012 (all of whom qualified for surgery based on NICE and their regional guidelines). Of the 22 people that started the process, 12 ended up getting referred back to their GP (to start over) and only 6 received their surgery by the time the study was completed in 2016. Here's the study: https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/39/1/163/3065701 You really need to fight to get this life saving and life changing surgery. Fortunately, in May 2018, NICE updated its guidelines so that people that are recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and have a BMI over 35 should be fast tracked to surgery (which makes sense since the surgery could stop the progress of the disease before it causes any real harm). Unfortunately, getting expedited processing still could take a couple years before a patient can get on the list for surgery.

I think it is awesome that you are looking forward to a healthier life. Asking people's opinions here is a great way to start thinking about which way to go. However, the best resource is your bariatric team. There are many factors that make one procedure better than the other. Some of these factors can only be found by tests and the experience of the surgeon. For me, I was told by two different bariatric surgeons that the only procedure that would even be recommended was the sleeve. I have had multiple abdominal surgeries and these preclude having the bypass. By discussing everything with my current surgeon and along with my upper endoscopy and a follow-up CT scan, the best option for me is the sleeve. Good luck with your journey.

I haven't had the surgery yet, but I'm really appreciating the responses to this question. Thanks for asking it, @KymmerShimmer! I can say I chose the sleeve over the lap band mostly because of statistics. The failure rate on the lap band is high--not even all that much better than diet and exercise alone (which has a 95+% failure rate, just btw); the failure rate on the sleeve is so much lower. The risk of complications on the band over time is comparatively high, too. The chance of scarring on the outside of the stomach is something I couldn't handle (which is maybe a weird stance for me to have, since I'm fine with them chopping out part of my stomach and making a line of staples ... OK, I am freaked out by there being metal staples in my squishy organ area, but I'm less freaked out by that than I am by a band full of saline floating around in there). And my sister in law had the lap band, lost a lot of weight, had complications, and has regained a bunch back. She's planning to get a sleeve, but she's having trouble finding a doctor who'll do it, since (some stuff that's specific to her, PLUS) it's harder to make the staple line close up cleanly after someone's had a lap band. So, there was a personal story to go with the statistics, you know? What I'm saying is, I never seriously considered the band. Which is for the best, since my surgeon also doesn't offer it. The bypass is considered the "gold standard" of bariatric surgery, and the sleeve is the most commonly performed bariatric surgery nowadays; at the risk of making some folks mad at me, I'll be honest and say that, having seen the statistics, I think it's a little unethical for a doctor to even offer the lap band, anymore.

How did you do that??? Please help. Honestly I can't get anything down except the bariatric soups, maybe some sugar free jello. I need to drink more water and get more proteins in. Lord its so difficult.

I have EmblemHealth GHI and they had a six month requirement of medically supervised nutritional monitoring and counseling, but no weight loss benchmark. I was 4 months in when, in June 2018, they revised the criteria to eliminate the requirement. The major bariatric organizations and institute (See, e.g., American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery's Updated Position Paper on Preoperative Supervised Weight Loss Requirements (March 2016) have all come out with position papers saying that these types of requirements serve no medical benefit, are not supported by any scientific evidence and only delay necessary treatment--which can harm patients (particularly those with co-morbidities like Type 2 diabetes). If you (or anyone else) is denied coverage because you have failed to meet this arbitrary and ridiculous requirement, you have a very good basis for challenging the denial. This requirement only serves as a barrier to necessary treatment for patients who stand to benefit from it. The new position advocated by most major institutes and associations is that surgery should be determined based on the BMI you present with at your initial consultation with the bariatric surgeon. EmblemHealth is hardly a trailblazer when it comes to loosening their approval standards and criteria, so if they did away with this requirement you can best most other companies will be revising their policies in the near future. I would definitely fight hard if any body's carrier denied coverage based on your purported failure to meet this arbitrary and pointless requirement. Although this may be slightly off topic, many insurance companies have other similar absurdities in their requirements. For example, many require that you do not have an active eating disorder. With few exceptions, every person who has a BMI over 35 (and definitely if you're over 40) likely has an active eating disorder (binge eating, carb addiction etc.) likely has an eating disorder (binge eating). This should not be a basis for denial of coverage. Putting these two condition for approval together and you have nothing but a hardened barrier to treatment that is not imposed on any other medical condition. If a person has an addiction to drugs or alcohol, most insurance companies provide in-patient coverage for detoxification and rehabilitation. Could you imagine if insurance made that coverage contingent on the addicts ability to prove they stayed off their drug of choice for 6 or more months before they would cover the cost of rehab??? In the case of obesity, diet and exercise alone does not work for the morbidly obese, so why impose a requirement that they lose 5-15% of their body weight as a condition for surgery. Worse yet, some carriers require patients to show they they failed a to lose 5% of their body weight after 6-24 months of supervised medical dieting. This creates a perverse incentive for a morbidly obese patient to go through counseling, but ignore the advice and not lose weight (all the while allowing their health to deteriorate). These types of requirements need to go. Do what you need to do to qualify for the surgery you need--but fight your ass off with the carrier if your denied coverage based on these arbitrary (but strictly enforced) requirements.

Stupid question: I want to start tracking my macros, but i can’t find any bariatric specific macro calculators. Can anyone help me translate percentages and grams into calories please? T.i.a Goal is about 1,000 cals per day Protein 50%, carbs (10-25%), fats (25-40%) I can always re adjust if my protein calculations aren’t exact, i just need my protein to be at least 60g.

According to the internet: Nausea and vomiting are the most common complaints after bariatric surgery, and they are typically associated with inappropriate diet and noncompliance with a gastroplasty diet (ie, eat undisturbed, chew meticulously, never drink with meals, and wait 2 hours before drinking after solid food is consumed). If these symptoms are associated with epigastric pain, significant dehydration, or not explained by dietary indiscretions, an alternative diagnosis must be explored. One of the most common complications causing nausea and vomiting in gastric bypass patients is anastomotic ulcers, with and without stomal stenosis. Ulceration or stenosis at the gastrojejunostomy of the gastric bypass has a reported incidence of 3% to 20%. Although no unifying explanation for the etiology of anastomotic ulcers exists, most experts agree that the pathogenesis is likely multifactorial. These ulcers are thought to be due to a combination of preserved acid secretion in the pouch, tension from the Roux limb, ischemia from the operation, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, and perhaps Helicobacter pylori infection. Evidence suggests that little acid is secreted in the gastric bypass pouch; however, staple line dehiscence may lead to excessive acid bathing of the anastomosis. Treatment for both marginal ulcers and stomal ulcers should include (1) avoidance of NSAIDs, (2) antisecretory therapy with proton-pump inhibitors, and/or sucralfate. In addition,(3) H pylori infection should be identified and treated, if present. The other area that you should explore is the fact that you might have a stricture.

I had the lapband switched to the gastric bypass in March of 2012. My heaviest was 280. Now I am 113. My surgeon gave me a feeding tube which did nothing and hurt like hell. I have zero appetite. No food looks or tastes good to me anymore. I am always nauseous. I have zero energy, and some days cannot even get out of bed. Everything I eat makes me sick. My hubby and I try to find a pattern to what causes my dumping syndrome. But we are at a loss. The worst part is, I have a son who is going to be 5 next week. I am lucky to have lots of help w him from my mom and my hubby. But he sees how weak I am. I can’t keep up w him and take him to a park even. I cannot find much at all online about loosing too much weight. I only find about regaining. My bariatric surgeon’s answer to every complication I’ve had is to cut me open, again, and again and again. He’s done 6 surgeries on me (not including initial lapbad, and revision to bypass). I moved overseas to Israel last September and have been getting iron infusions twice a week. I haven’t felt a difference. Nothing helps. It’s a total mind f**k to go from 280 to 113. Als to go from so big to so small. Also to be told by all those around me to eat eat. How can I swallow food when I’m constantly nauseous? I’ve always struggled to keep all of the vitamins down. I throw them all up. Ive asked if I can do a vitamin drip, any alternative to oral vitamins. It’s hard. My Dr even prescribed me marinol, to stimulate my appetite and help with nausea. It’s generally given to chemo patients, didn’t help me at all. I feel No one understands. I Don’t even understand, It’s so very confusing. Any one else experience this? I feel if things don’t change I’ll be dead within 10 years. I’m 42 in a 65 year olds body. What upsets me most is how this affects my sweet little boy. He is old enough now to know and see and hear, that mommy is not well. I will never know all of the negative ways in which this probably already has and will continue to affect him. I have an appt with a bariatric nutritionist but, by now, I generally know more than they do. Any words of wisdom or advice would be greatly appreciated. Here are pics from size 28 to 00

I'd say definitely talk to your doctor's office about the burning, and ask them what the recommend protein timescale is. I started adding protein (shake mix into water, blech) two days after my surgery. Couldn't do a lot, but I tried to do a little more each day. 40 oz of fluid doesn't sound like enough to me, the minimum I've heard is 64 oz (in fact, recommended for everyone, bariatric surgery or not), but you might have other factors at play in that number.

It really depends on a variety of things. My insurance made the approve/deny decision based upon initial weight at first visit with bariatric team - not my surgery day weight. Also, the sooner you get yourself into the right mindset - protein first, 100 grams of protein a day, no more than 10 grams of sugar in a serving of anything, the easier life will be after (at least it was for me.). My "class" (required to get the appointment with a surgical team) was in April 2016 and my surgery was on August 23. So I had 120-ish days before my surgery. My team required that I follow post-op rules for a pre-op diet to show that I was committed and making progress. My pre-op diet was one shake and two meals, under 1000 calories for 8 days prior to surgery. So, talk to your team to find out whether additional loss will be a problem for your approval. DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING. I'm 2 years out in two days. I'm down almost 150 pounds from my starting highest estimated weight because I wouldn't get on a scale, but looking at photos I was over 300 in 2015. So please, talk to your team and get your head in the right place to eat the right way - the sooner you do the better your chances of success.

@SteveT74 do you need an alto to sing with you. I have been a sneaker, a binger and a unrepentant food addict, halfway through my Dietary Purgatory, the infamous Liver-shrink Diet, it would be so easy to say F this is so over. 3 things pop up in my current-time memory: 1, I really really want this surgery, at my age there are no gaurenteed do-overs, no more chances, the easy tricks don't work, and oh I tried! 2. I remember Dr Needlman palpating my upper abdomen, got to the RIGHT subcostal area and says to himself "Un-huh". Now I am medically "smarter than the average bear" as my good Buddy Yogi Bear would say. He's feeling liver margin, didn't have to scream you have NASH, I knew! Looks up at me and says " You are going to follow my diet aren't you?" What could I say? Yes Sir, I will Sir, shall I polish your shoes Sir? I was called to rights there! Can't fool someone who has been in the Bariatrics business as long as him! Not complaining, I wanted the best-I got him. 3 I have lost nearly 13 pounds now since August 1st. Only time in my life I dropped weight faster was when I had just produced a baby. Oh I liked producing babies, but at 72 that's a LONG time ago. If I could with egg and sperm donations produce another baby would I want to? Nope, too much pain, mess and bother for this old girl! But if I can lose weight with a BMR like mine, equal to a tired slug who's on anti-depressive medication, at my age you youngins got nothing to quibble about. Oh it's not fun, goes against most all happiness, contrary to normal nature, but it can be done, Buttercup, yes it can.😛🌻

As long as it is a bariatric focused company, they will more than likely meet your specific needs. However, Childrens MVI are meant for children who require far less vitamins and minerals than an already grown adult....bariatric pts need MVIs which should have 200% of the daily value. Hope this helps!

I recommend bariatric advantage (chewy candy like vitamins, chewable tablets, or capsules) , fusion (chewy vitamins & tablets), celebrate (chewy and tablets), or barimelts (tablets). There’s even barilife which sells swallowable pills, vanilla flavored, which makes getting them down easier. Theres also a “keurig” style machine called Tespo. They have a bariatric complete vitamin in liquid shot form as well. There are many vitamins out there to meet a bariatric patients needs!

Can you please be specific - which brand of bariatric vitamins you're recommending? There are so many brands and they all have different nutritional content. Thanks

Like J San, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Either you're feeling desperately low or your account has been hijacked. What's going on? Do you need to vent? We're here! We're here! Bariatric Evangelists aren't supposed to treat Newbies like this, enjoyinglife. Pick on someone your own size, assuming you are enjoyinglife.

Flintstones vs. Bariatric Specific Multi-vitamins: You will be shocked if you just compared the labels, there is absolutely no comparison. You can take my word or do the research. Even if you doubled your intake of Flintstones vitamins, you would still be lacking in many vital nutrients like your B vitamins that support energy and skin and hair growth. Gummies: It is hard to incorporate the same ingredients to gummy vitamins as it is in chewable vitamins. Experts advise to stay away from gummies for the most obvious reason; they are made with too much sugar, and the main ingredient of many is high fructose corn syrup. You will have to take several gummies to be equivalent to just one bariatric specific multi-vitamin. Some gummies when you take all that is needed after bariatric surgery, the sugar intake from the vitamins are over 30 grams of sugar. Total recommendation for sugar for the day is to have less than 25 grams per day. Seems counter-intuitive to choose a vitamin line with that much sugar especially with the main ingredient being high fructose corn syrup. It boils down to, do you want the orange or the orange colored gummy bear to nourish your body? The bottom line is that gummies just do not have enough nutrients in them for a post weight loss surgery patient. Gummies also do not provide iron which is needed for many post-op bariatric patients.

Hi there, Just approved for a surgery consult after a 8 month pre-bariatric program of nutrition counseling, exercise testing and psych evaluation. Have some questions for you expert Lap-Banders: 1. What made you choose the Lap Band over the Sleeve? 2. Have you had hair loss with the Lap Band? 3. What can you absolutely NOT eat now with the Lap Band? 4. At what point did you know you made the right decision with the Lap Band surgery? 5. What as been the best tool you've used in keeping your weight loss progressing? Thank you!!

Hi there, Just approved for a surgery consult after a 8 month pre-bariatric program of nutrition counseling, exercise testing and psych evaluation. Have some questions for you expert Sleevers: 1. What made you choose the Sleeve over the Lap Band? 2. Have you had hair loss with the Sleeve? 3. What can you absolutely NOT eat now with the Sleeve? 4. At what point did you know you made the right decision with the Sleeve surgery? 5. What as been the best tool you've used in keeping your weight loss progressing? Thank you!!