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A long-time poster and friend on Bariatric Pal. He had an RnY bypass, was losing weight, healing well, things were going pretty well for him. Then he had some health struggles, those of us that knew him and knew him well are concerned because we haven't heard from him for a while, which isn't like him. We hope he is getting better but we JUST DON T KNOW.😯

Well it's so long I've been waiting, I've faced my fears, cried my tears, queried my questions ,faced my demons, called them out by name, wondered my wonders, walked and walked, longing for something to happen , instead of all this talk, Crawded feeling humbled, begging once again , if it can't get it this time, well it will be just a sin. Watched others move on by me, sometimes they gave a wave, will I get my surgery before my health turns grave? Wondering what I did wrong? I did all they said. Will I wake up , know it's finished in a bariatric bed.? Well I can't quit now, I've traveled oh so far, I'll keep on my journey until I see that shining star. Three years I've been trying, three years until the end, A long time I've been trekking but this victory I'll win. ❤💙😝💜💚

So You are a Muskegon Michigan Mercy Mamma, looking to have,the,best of luck with Dr Gluck. How alliterative it all is! Good Wishes and prayers for your future days and you. I'm waiting today ,hoping to hear from Jessica at OSU. Yeah I'm one of those verdompt Buckeyes but I'm very lovable despite it! Maybe Jessica will be able to give me a date, tell me whether it will be Dr Noria or Dr Needleman as my surgeon 😷and if I am missing anything.I have surgery fever, I WANT IT I WANT IT So Bad. I started out in August 2015 and have had starts , pauses, ups, downs, hairpin curves , I just want this Bariatric Train 🚝to make it to the station🏫 where I can disembark and start on my new life!🙎I am going to be a RnY bypass , No fear I just wish it Here!😁💜😁

There are others with plenty of protein. I use Muscle Milk Pro premade shakes because I became intolerant of whey protein. It actually has 32 g of protein vs. 30 g for Premier Protein. If you get sick of sweet drinks, I have liked several of the protein soups available here on Bariatric Pal

I’m a female military veteran who has been struggling with obesity for 10+ years. Over a year ago, i began seeing a weight management doctor through the vA. I started making healthier eating decisions with the help of my doctor and attending nutrition classes. I even began seeing a physical trainer through the VA. I still wasn’t losing weight. I was 211 lbs at just 5’0”. I finally decided that I wanted to consider weight loss surgery. I was given a checklist, which I completed over the span of 10 months. All that was left for my surgery was my psych evaluation. I even exceeded the weight I was supposed to lose to meet the pre-op requirement. I’m down to 190 lbs. I’m still considered obese, just not morbidly so. Upon my psych evaluation, I was told by the psychologist that she had a moral obligation to my child(I’m a single parent) to do what was in my child’s best interest as well and that there are some instances where bariatric surgery patients become suicidal. The psychologist stated that he didn’t want to see my daughter in a few years, coming into her office, asking how she could clear me for surgery, leaving her without a mother. The psychologist also stated that she’s sure my daughter would rather have me overweight than not have me at all. She went on to decide that she recommended I continue trying to lose weight with diet and exercise, and did not clear me for surgery. I was devastated. I do have PTSD, but have not been suicidal, nor have drug or alcohol habits/issues. I want a second opinion but prefer one by a non-VA provider. I do feel that her opinion was biased and for some reason, personal. Even in her clinical notes, she’s very vague with providing supporting evidence of her conclusion. She also never consulted with my actual therapist, whom I’ve been in therapy with for a year. Does anyone have any insight or words of advice? I feel so defeated...because of all the work I put in this past year to meet the requirements.

Whew what a relief,that has got to be for you! Now if we can find Mattymatt and get him healed,as well the sun will,shine again in Bariatric-land.😌

I had the band in 2005. It was good in the first couple of months, but after my gallbladder decided to go bad, my banded life was never the same. I suffered with chronic reflux and could not tolerate a fill. The reflux was directly related to laying flat, so I slept sitting up for almost 5 years. When I had my band out, my bariatric surgeon offered to convert me to the sleeve at that time. But I didn't know enough about it and wasn't comfortable permanently changing my anatomy. 8 years later, after I gained all of my weight back, I started seriously looking into being sleeved. Was finally sleeved on 4/10/18. Here's the differences I've experienced: Because I couldn't tolerate any fills in my band, I had very little food restriction. I had limitations in the AMOUNT of food I could consume, but I had no food intolerance with the band. The only thing that kept me on track was faithfully following the banded rules. I'm now almost 6 weeks out from being sleeved. I have more restriction than I ever did with the band. My stomach gurgled a lot at the beginning, but not so much now. I have very little appetite. In terms of food intolerance, I have noticed that I don't do well with bread. That's bread that's gone through the rising process. I don't vomit or anything, it just doesn't feel good or comfortable whenever I eat bread (even if it's toasted). I'm good with tortillas and crackers, but not bread. I've had pasta and rice with no issue, although I must admit that I can't eat very much of it and I certainly wouldn't make a meal of it. At most I can eat a half cup. If I try even 1 more bite after I've hit my limit, I suffer for at least a half hour. It feels like I have to burp but nothing comes out other than slimy bubbles. (sorry if that's TMI, but it's the truth). Also, with most of my meals I am forced to eat very slowly. If I eat too quickly I get an uncomfortable feeling, not quite pain, but my sleeve reminds me very fast that I am eating too quickly. EX: it takes me about 20 minutes to eat a single serving of Greek yogurt. Hope this helps.

Thank you both! Right now, I'm on Bariatric Advantage for my pre-op diet, and it seems to be doing very well giving me energy and keeping me satisfied. It's easy enough to add cold water and powder to a shaker bottle and not even need a blender, so that's what I'll probably keep doing just for the sake of ease. I'll look more at protein shakes and bars, especially as I get closer to August.

I had the same issues in the beginning. I switched over to Unjury bariatric protein (https://www.unjury.com/unjury-starter-kit.html) and used sugar free Almond milk. I also started eating beans and chewing them to the purified stage. I actually enjoy chili since it is more flavorful and squish the beans with my fork. These help me feel full because they take longer to eat and are protein. They also help keep you regular.

I think you'll find the good surgeon's care about you as a person, my impression is: bariatric surgery is not the easiest of the surgical specialities, but the ability to effect,such changes in people's lives is immensely,gratifying.💞💜😝

My surgery is only a month or two out, but I'm just starting to get serious about nutrition and meal planning. I should have started a long time ago, but I'm finally feeling really motivated to do a good job at this. For better or worse, my insurance doesn't require a liquid diet, so I'm very much on my own. I'd like to start planning meals and eating the way I'll have to eat after surgery. I know it'll be difficult, but I also know I really have to do this. If you have any resources for bariatric meal planning could you please share them with me? I'm looking for things like: Meal planning software or spreadsheets? Shopping guides? Tips about foods to eat and foods to avoid? Recipes All the best!

I tried Bariatric Advantage which was the worst! I used Powder with Almond milk, water, or nonfat lactose free milk. I’m on Premier Protein premades and powder using the same variety of liquid for mixing the powder. Which is less awful but, still not so fun. I’m allowed now to eat one plain serving of Greek yogurt everyday to help and I still have an issue. I’m basically living on Imodium and praying for June 4 to get here quick so I can end this madness.

These are my first notes after bariatric sleeve surgery. I had my surgery just about a month ago. I generally feel very good. It takes some time to learn how to eat again. Small meals, more often. Eat slow. Eat little. Don't force yourself. If you eat too fast, or are not careful, or you don't think while you eat, you can get in trouble (you'll get reflux, feel like throwing up, but just walk around for a few minutes and it will go away as you digest.) The first few days after the surgery were tough. Hard to eat, hard to drink. Now it's a lot better. It took probably a week to get to a satisfactory level and feel normal. Just bear with it because it gets a lot better. If I can give a suggestion to those of you who are going to go through the surgery, is one: be very rested. I made the mistake of sleeping only 3-4 hours the night before the surgery, and after the surgery I felt awful. In addition, the hospital did not have a room for me, and I spent overnight in the recovery room. That did not help. I had to stay at the hospital a second night because of that. Make sure you are rested and you have a room. You need to rest after surgery. Since the surgery, I have lost an average of 1 lb per day. Fantastic! I have not exercised a lot yet, but I started doing something the past couple of weeks. I am sure as I shed more weight I will start working out more seriously, or at least move. Just walking every day for half hour would be enough for the first few months. Good luck to you all. Believe in it! Don't get discouraged. I can see why everyone told me that it would change my life. I can already see it as I am wearing 2-size smaller jeans today.

Well if you can believe Surgeon #1. I am nearly 200 pounds overweight, Thursday when I met with Valerie, my nurse-practioner, she asked what my goal weight,was. I played coy, I told her "work with your figures and see what you come up with" her answer,175-184. I laughed and said that was coincidence I had come up with 175 myself. After plotting and examined for myself, I am not too large on the upper story, the "girls" are a C-D cup but for a 320-330 person that is not large. What I am is an oversized Junior, if they ran to an upper range I am a 27 instead of a 26W so my dream size a 15 Junior, and I will make a good attempt to get there. Proudgrammy (kathy) says there is no try, you either do or don't do something. Seems a little strict but I won't argue with her, she may be more a success than I ever will be. So you have to lose a whole Bariatric woman, well I have have to lose at least a place kicker and that's still a human being. I would like anything less than 199 but let's see,how things work out. Sending a virtual hug because. a real one would hurt. 💜💞💚

Well I started this out and I haven't had mine yet but I'll approach this yet another way Am I scared to have a Bypass? And the answer is No! 1. It will assist me in losing weight, I have tried everything up to and including fasting and starvation. The best way up to now to lose weight: have a baby. Yes there are things like sperm and egg donation but, I am too far past menopause to want to get on the hormone wagontrain again. Besides after baby#3 my OB said my pelvic structure was too frozen to deliver vaginally,Tomkitten was nearly a c-section, and as CreekImp has said I do seem to pick rotten specimens in the Doctor Lottery. This one, in Columbus no less, threatened to plunk my happy tushie in Riverside Methodist and do a Porro Section. Would you like to know what this is? Too bad because I'll tell you anyway. A C-Section followed by an immediate hysterectomy. Yeah I'd go,into the room an expectant mother and come out spayed. No* *Thank You Very Very,Much. So Frustr8 got smart and stopped with #3. 2. It should prevent me deveoping diabetes. As the adult child of diabetics and with a very strong history in the branches of one side of my family tree, that is totally cool. 3. It is not the we'll do this now and do something else surgery. I t is permanent 4 I still get to keep my natural stomach, granted it hasn't always been kind, allowing the The Ghrelin Monster to growl and giving Hector the Baby ulcer a Home Sweet Home but I am sentimentally fond of the old muscular bag. There is enough of me in pathology jars. 5. It is and always has been the premium Gold Standard of Bariatric Surgery. It maybe my,own only chance at a Gold Medal unless they are instituting a Broke Dow Woman games this or next year. 6 Although I am resolving at this point to not let Little Debbie and her evil family past,my lips the threat of "dumping" will keep me righteous. 7 If I ever had any qualms, in nearly 3 years, they have all died off and never will raise their head again. 8 and lastly I want to prove to that self-righteous sack,of hot air,3 miles to the South of OSU, he miss-judged Frustr8, I can,I shall and I will receive the surgery he denied me and make a success of things and live a happy triumphant life. Furthermore I will make certain my PCP knows to not refer his patients there. They are not kind, Christian in their philosophy or willing to help anyone except to take their money. Where I am now is better organized, has a better staff and is worthy of their Center of Excellence rating. 27th May 2018

Gummy vitamins have a sugar base, so ⬆raises your carbs, supposedly not assimilated smoothly, most put you on chewables, I guess if you're like me , wearing dentures , and can't chew,the concrete critters, you can crush them, you can then,put them in sugar free pudding, unsweetened applesauce or sugar free cool whip, and spoon with your little baby spoon those suckers in, and most chewable vitamins taste atrocious. That's why you look for one that tastes least obnoxious. Look for reviews from others on here, I think As part of their training bariatric surgeons should taste the things they tell others to ingest. Most never have, and need to be brought down a peg or two. Just Saying!😏

Like Jess said....post surgical diets are incredibly different. I think Jess's version is more common among American bariatric centers.... and all of her food is stuff I'd eat in a heartbeat...looks delicious. Biggest difference, is that I do a lot of fuit and low glycemic carbs and more plant based protein. I've always done healthy carbs. Right after protein drinks I transitioned to thin cream of wheat and oatmeal per my approved plan. Mashed potatoes and vegetarian refried beans were on my soft food approved list, too. Didn't do whole grain breads until later, they were tough for a while. I know a lot of folks do something closer to keto. My clinic serves a lot of international clients and lots of them are vegan and vegetarian culturally, so my nutritionist was delighted when I said I'd been doing Mayo Clinic Diet. She was like...Awesome, I can work with that! Here's a sample menu from early on: We're only required to do 60g of protein per day, but it's not unusual for me to hit 80-100. The big things that make my diet work (I think), are fixed calories under 1200 per day, little to no refined sugar, healthy fats, fiber, steady blood sugar, lean protein and plant based protein. I don't do much animal fat. Also, my clinic stresses exercise and writes our recommendations on a prescription pad.

Thanks KikiSue, another evil thing to contend with. Like RebaMcEntire's song Naturelover is a "Survivor", I am glad I have,met ladies like her along my bariatric Journey.❤🌷😜🌷

I'm sure there are more than you might think. As a virgin soon-to-bypasser I think you guys outnumber me in spades. No matter how you got,here we,love you and are happy you want to join my happy herd of Kangaroos. Why kangaroos? Because we all have or will soon have pouches. I was only thi,king,of a sleeve for 12-15 hours then I had my mental conversion and I can hardly wait to have the physical manifestation as well. I started on my I Want Bariatric Surgery safari,in August 2015, a lot of bumps, twists, starts stops and hairpin curves but my Date with Destiny will come and it should be month or slightly more. I keep petitioning Heaven so long God and all the Holy Saints have heard enough. I visiualize them saying Give Frusrt8 her surgery so we can get some other work done, answer more prayers and petitions. Saint James probably is saying Spain needs my intercession but I barely can hear them over top of Frustr8 and her equalling. I even drafted Saint Gerlach, a more minor saint. I liked reading his story, rather resonated with me. To repent of youthful indiscretions, he went to Rome, took a vow of poverty and went to live in a hollow tree at the edge of the Netherlands, he's for me because Late Lamented was 1/2 Dutch I worked in healthcare from my youth on I worked for WalMart-that substatiates poverty A hollow tree , well that's about what I can afford His feast day is January 5th which is close to my actual birthday He is a minor saint, so not so busy, so he might appreciate the business, It must be difficult flying around Heaven and no one asks your help. Might make him feel unloved and underappreciated and i,know how that feels myself. Look him up if you want on Wikipedia he has churchs etc honoring him in Northern to Middle portion of Holland.👼

I purchased all of them through amazon. My Heme Proferrin iron is $64 My bariatric multivitamin $20 My sublingual vitamin B12 $15 My chewy barimelt calcium $22 May seem like a lot but is nothing compared to how much I used to spend on food and even less considering it’s to keep me healthy.. I’m ok with the tradeoff. Yo-Yo Girl from New York City

🤢 that happened to me with bariatric advantage and I gave them to my mom. My mom is a health nut and she doesn’t mind that they are bariatric. I did buy the one a day capsule and now I just empty it into a spoon or a sippy cup with protein and they aren’t nasty or taste much like anything so it’s really easy to drink. You should deff try them, I ordered mine on amazon Bc they could guarantee me 2 day shipping. Yo-Yo Girl from New York City

Seeing the new posts to this thread, thought I would add an update. Thanks to those who posted. ME/CFS & fibro are real. It’s so great when we can come together and share our experiences. As anyone with these diseases knows, we are dealing with illnesses of isolation. If you haven’t seen it, make sure to watch Jennifer Brea’s documentary UNREST about ME/CFS. She’s created a movement that is actually making some progress in getting adequate funding for ME/CFS research. I am now almost 10 months post op. Surgery date was 8/7/17 HW 223 SW 209 CW 140 i can only speak from my experience... my recovery was pretty easy. No complications. My doctor at Stanford is quite conservative and cautious (former head of American Bariatric Society), so I seemed to have more rules around surgery and food than other friends that I met online through this site who had surgery at the same time. I embraced the guidelines, understood they were there for a reason, and radically surrendered to the process. I was prepared for the worst, but expected the best. Felt pretty awesome (for me) even the week after surgery. I was prepared for a massive crash, so I was grateful when that didn’t happen. I felt pretty great for a couple of months. Then started to have serious issues due to a tumor on my adrenal gland that has likely been there for years. In fact, the bariatric surgery probably helped bring this to light, as I was getting frequent blood work and we noticed a concerning trend. So, I have been quite ill for months as other drs tried to figure what was going on with this adrenal issue. Will have surgery for that later in June. And it complicates the picture. That said, my surgery was a complete success. I feel like the obsession with food has been lifted completely (I’ve done a lot of work with this over the years). A year ago, due to bone on bone knee and excess weight, I was barely able to walk to the bathroom and was ready to get a walker at the ripe old age of 46. I now move around the house and can do errands with little to no pain in my knees. I can even took a 2 mile hike a few weeks ago. I paid for it after a bit, just with knees, but it was possible. My energy levels have been better. I still feel exhausted if I stop to think about it, but I have been able to get out of bed most days and get out of the house, which helps so much. My body feels like a friend now, rather than my foe. It has been amazing to have the experience of losing weight this easily. It’s always been a horrible struggle for me. Especially in the last 10 years. Couldn’t lose. Only lost 1.8 lbs on 2 week pre-op liquid protein diet. At that point, the dr even admitted that he couldn’t guarantee that this would work, but said “we hope that cutting out the stomach will change your hormone profile and your metabolism.” And it feels as if that is what happened. At my 6 month post op, when I told him I haven’t had any improvement with chronic pain (I also have a cluster headache syndrome and damage to neck and back from multiple accidents when young), he said that he is hopeful that around a year my inflammation levels should drop and, hopefully, I will start getting some pain relief at that point. I feel lighter not just in body, but in mind and spirit as well. And, even though my decision to have surgery was 100% based on improving my health and being able to walk and postpone knee replacement, there have been other benefits as well. I am smaller than I was at my wedding 25 years ago. I can put on clothes and basically everything I try fits. I’ve been doing a lot of shopping at the fancy local thrift shop since my sizes keep changing. The other day I bought a beautiful size 4 designer dress and it fit! That’s a number I never thought I’d see. This part is just one of the fun perks. But, something that is smooth and fun for me now, rather than a struggle to find something that would button over my 38G chest. I’m so grateful my knee replacement dr started me on this journey. I was at the point where I loved myself and embraced my curves. But, I can love myself thin as well. If anyone has specific questions or wants to connect, please PM me. I am happy to answer any questions, either on this thread or privately. Good luck to you all on your journey of healing! 💖

You're not the only one who goes into hives. I call them" stress bumps" got them before my last Thursday. appointment then distressed & distressed that they would see them and think I had fleas, Nearly had panic on top of anxiety, they noticed depression on my medical history, asked if I could be bipolar? Geesh, I'm the diagnosee, not the diagnoser. Told them the closest I come to manic is jumping to conclusions. Maybe I am bipolar but if so, nobody has brought me into the loop. That would be my,luck, to be the last to know. But I got through that day super fine, they were very nice people, more than willing to,my on a gurney for them. Besides the other day I was in like a mezzanine level, if they pushed me out the window I'd only get lightly bruised. I'm acrophobic, I make sure I'm never too far from the ground. Rumor has it, the post-Bariatric Ward is on the 8th floor of the Main Hospital, la la la I don't hear it, if I don't hear it I don't have to think about it. According to Noel Grimm, Late Lamented 's friend, aka the Vision. aka Wallace the Wierd, I was thrown from a building in ancient Persia and crushed under a load of been melons. He also claims he was the driver of the Melon Cart. Strange Dude, sleeps under an inverted chrystal to channel to wisdom of the ages into his chakra, and he is certain he was there. This explained my aversion to melons so strongly,that I vomit if I even smell their sickening sweet smell. Cantaloupe, Persian melon and especially watermelon. I stopped the car and made Tomkitten get out when he had watermelon-scented gum in his mouth. Well, it was for My Protection and who wants to wear what I last ate?😜

This is as close as I've found for my question. So kill me if you want but I'd like an answer? I am immediately presurgical, well actually perpetually presurgical, but that's another longer topic. Last Thursday at OSU, yes The Ohio State University, as they style themselves, my nutritionist Roy asked if I was taking any vitamins, especially multivitamins. Yes I said, I have been taking Centrum Silver, although my hair definitely is not Silver,i am That Ol He says I w a by you to switch to prenatal vitamins for the iron. Okay, I said, then when I got home and started evaluating and second-guessing myself,i started to wonder? Will I be on this post-surgery or will I be swiched one of the traditional Bariatric ones.? Has anybody out there in BariatricLand just remained on them? Mind you except for a few raised eyebrows from the pharmacy staff, nobody has questioned me and they are a whole,lot easier to find them . So I remain your bewidered yet humble servant. 😌Frustr8

Might be a nice change from the "In my day we did blah blah blah", I used to hate when my older relatives did that. Well what goes around comes around, the" I won the Second. World War single-handly" have been replaced by " Let me tell you about Flower Power, the Viet Nam War and the Day Kennedy Died" and whole new generation will be bored stiff or yawn behind their hands. And a recounting of all your pain and sorrows with Bariatric Surgery will scare them skinny. Think,of it as your gift to the future generations😜LOL, my friends!!!