Search the Community

The 1st few days are rough. Consentrat on protein and liquids right now. The protein shakes can be counted as liquid. The first few weeks I only got between 700 and 900 calories day. Just don’t go on a binge. I need a bunch of crap and you will be fine.

I am 10 weeks out and I can eat eggs and chicken thighs but not chicken breast. I can't stomach the white meat. Wondering if it will be like that for awhile. We will see. se

I did not have a stall either.

I had gastric bypass on 2/22. Pre-op I lost 37 pounds, first week post op another 18. 2nd week the scale didn't move at all and now as of today is UP 5 POUNDS. I want to scream. How is this even possible I haven't even gotten to 1000 calories yet. I'm so discouraged I want to just cry. My RD tells me not to worry but how can I not? Has anyone delt with this? Thanks for any advice or insight.

I did tell my husband that doing laundry today was too much bending. So he knows that if laundry is getting done again in the next few weeks, it's on him to load and unload. I can pour in the detergent and get it going, but I just can't bend over to move the clothes around. I've been using alcohol swabs to try to get the sticky stuff off, but some of it is absolutely being hardheaded and wanting to stick around. Oh well, it comes off a little bit at a time lol. The grabber thing is a great idea. I hadn't thought about that. For the allergy tests, they do keep medicine in the office to reverse reactions. So if you want to play it risky at home, just make sure that there is someone with you in case you go into anaphylaxis. In office, ambulances are only called when even an Epi Pen doesn't cut it.

what if you schedule the tests for early January and just start the six months of visits now?! Because usually they wait until after the six months to submit to insurance and it can take like 30 days for an answer and then another month or two for the surgeons schedule. If you had your six months done and then knocked out them other tests like the first week of January then they could hopefully submit it all right after (unless you need follow up to any of that). If it is just the one visit though, That would be 6 months from now?? I mean ask the Dr if that works for her of course cause maybe I’m missing something but I hope they understand finances are important too.

No there is no norm or standard plan for before or after surgery. Much like there is no standard for how you will recover, how much weight you’ll lose, what ‘fun’ side effects you’ll experience, etc. There’s just generalisations & averages. There will be similarities across plans & differences. Like in the pre surgery eating plan. Some don’t have any. Some do three shakes a day while others do two shakes & one meal. Me I had to do keto. Same with the post surgery stages. Differences can be around how long each stage is or even what foods you can or can’t have at each stage. For example potatoes are allowed on many plans but were a big no in my plan. I do know my surgeon adjusts his plan depending on the individual patient & their specific needs & situation. My friend who saw him was on the 2 shakes one meal plan. Her friend, also same surgeon was all shakes. Our ages, starting weight & general health were different. It’s why we say it’s always best to follow the plan you were given and if you are having difficulties to contact your team to see if & how you can tweak it to better suit you & your needs & experiences.

Hello from hot Arizona! Everyone is so different as to what makes them dump. I’m over 6 years out & can eat almost anything. Fruit can be tricky because of all the natural sugar. I just finished eating 3.5oz of watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberry & grapes. I make little portion cups up with just a couple of bites of each fruit & keep them ready in the fridge for a late night snack. You just gotta start off slow to see what your body will tolerate & just because something makes you dump this week doesn’t mean that it is always gonna be that way the next time. Good luck

Oh, how interesting! I wonder what caused them to make the adjustment, but I’m glad it moved closer to what my doctor does. Though a total of 5 weeks of liquid makes me want to cry lol. I’ve got 2 left.

*raises hand* i do! not as often as back in the day, but yes, i'll use one if my guess-timating powers are off, AND if have access to one, AND i,m not feeling lazy. all conditions must be true lol. works out to maybe 3-4 times a week i'll use one. but i don't use measuring cups or spoons anymore...i'm pretty good at visualizing volume, ha!

I have been in other support groups and people say that a slow or even a stall is normal in the first couple months because your body is adjusting. When you start eating healthy foods and more intake your body will start burning again. The weight will start again. The slower weight loss is actually better for your recover is my understanding. I am 10 days out and down 15 pounds. I’m not in any hurry and as long as I’m still losing I will just follow my plan and keep going. keep us posted!

I’m not scheduled yet but I know we do a two week liquid diet too. Just remember it will make the surgery easier.

Happy 10 day post-op! Im sorry to hear about your belly button discharge- do you have an incision close to it that caused it? I am also about 3 weeks liquid phase including pre-op. Im so sick of it. My fluid intake for water/sugar free gatorade is okay. I’m no where near 1.5 L a day but its slowly getting better and im definitely drinking more now than I was the first two days. Did you develop an intolerance to lactose after your surgery?

I have it with smells. So many things smell like fish or tobacco to me. My dad will make himself a coffee, and I smell cigarettes. He'll be frying up eggs or a hamburger, tobacco. And for some reason, a lot of medicinal scents smell fishy to me: my metformin makes me gag because it smells so strongly of fish -- as does my children's grape-flavoured allergy liquid. 😕 As for taste, I've been lucky enough not to experience that -- although my taste buds are definitely still out of whack / different than pre-op. I can taste chemicals in SO many things now -- even items that I was fine with (twice, just last week) suddenly taste chemically. (I'm looking at you, lemon pudding....)

Yes. I would sleep more than I thought possible during the day and then sleep all night. I think I stopped napping at around a week after surgery. Sleep is good for recovery.

First of all, can I just tell you that you're beautiful!!! I don't mean anything awkward or inappropriate with that, but I just felt like I wanted to tell you that you are a very beautiful woman To answer your questions: 1. What was the best part of surgery for you? Getting off blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, and anti-inflammatory meds, losing the weight, and gaining mobility back 2. What was the worst part of surgery for you? I had several complications from the sleeve and had to have a revision a year later 3. Did you have any complications (minor or major) during or after your surgery? not during the surgery but about 7-8 months later, complications started showing up. 4 endoscopies, 1 colonoscopy, and massive amounts of PPIs later, had to have the revision 4. How has adjusting to your new life been for you? it's been hard sometimes, but overall, so worth it and rewarding and a huge blessing 5. How long did it take you to feel comfortable eating food? If you stick to the plan, it's a gradual process. By 6-8 weeks, I was nervous but ready to eat food and just made sure to go slow. 6. Is there anything you can’t eat anymore that you used to enjoy? pasta, rice, potatoes, bread (a year or 2 out, some can eat it in small amounts every once in a while, but I'm so sensitive to carbs that I stay far away...but there's alternatives that allow me to not feel like I'm deprived so it's completely ok) 7. What was your recovery like? Any vomiting or dumping syndrome? dumping really only happens with the bypass, not the sleeve. Never had vomiting and very little nausea (in the beginning). Once I had my revision to bypass, I had dumping twice and learned my lesson lol I follow the rules and I'm careful, so I haven't had it again. 8. How long did it take you to feel semi-normal after surgery? about 4 weeks after the sleeve, about a week to 10 days after the revision to bypass (much easier surgery to recover from, for some reason) 9. Did you experience higher energy level post surgery? not right away. I was beyond exhausted the first 2 weeks. Weeks 3 and 4 it started to get better. By week 6, I felt normal, and by 3 months out I had lost a good amount of weight and my energy levels really started to pick up. 10. Did surgery affect your mental health? not in any kind of negative way until I started having the complications. Once I had the revision, every complication went away and I've been beyond happy and thrilled. The only real issue I have now is body dysmorphia sometimes. I have moments where I look in the mirror and still see 421 pound me and not 195 pound me. I'll look in my closet and think someone stole my clothes and replaced them with someone else's (I use to be a size 30/5X and now I'm a size 14/XL). 11. Do you regret it? Would you recommend it? I absolutely do not regret it. The only thing I would go back and change is I would just have the bypass to begin with and skip the sleeve altogether. Now, there are a lot of people really happy with the sleeve. They have zero regrets. I was one of them, until I wasn't. Many of us sleevers have to get a revision to bypass for one reason or another, but just as many, if not more, have the sleeve and never have any issues and love it.

This is my current lunch and dinner. It's hath a single chicken breast and the sea food sticks are just prossesed fish and rolled into this shape and eaten straight out of pack that's the red things on the right. This week I lost hath a pound. Don't feel like I'm being rewarded for the effort I'm putting in and really messes with my head. I drinking about 3000ml ( just under a gallon) of water a day

December 6 is my surgery date, I just got that today. Feels like it’s been forever but it’s really only been three or four months now. all I have left is November 29 a video call with a RN about my weight from that morning my medication list And my new Vitamin list which I’ll be getting from her. Then November 30 I have to go to a three hour “second Pre-op class“ I have to start my two week liquid diet this Thursday Thanksgiving 😞 that’s OK though does anybody have any suggestions about things I need before surgery? any help is appreciated!

I can only reiterate what others before have said, they have great advice. You did great and you can do it again. My advice for what its worth is try and find a few minutes to plan your food for the coming week, buy it and stick to your purchases. I know its tougher if you are feeding a family who eat foods you are trying not to eat. Use a good food tracker, track and eat your protein. It fills you and does wonders for your body. Find an exercise you can stick with. Keep coming back to this site and update us. We all struggle at some point.

It is, I guess I worry to much because the scales are not showing weight loss each week.

That first week I felt like a fish out of water, it was so surreal and jarring. Not everyone feels that way, but a good number of us do and it's hard. We're here to support you and tell you that it will get better, you will feel better, and things will feel normal again once you've adjusted. This is not forever. I'm going to my 3 month post op today, I'm able to eat and feel good most of the time (When I don't eat too fast) and able to do a fairly intense daily walk for an hour as well as the normal daily activities. I'm still a bit tired, sometimes I feel emotional when I've not gotten enough nutrition or sleep, but I've learned to see the signs and take proactive measures so it really doesn't happen all that often anymore. I really started to feel better around 8 weeks, and feel much better again at 12 weeks. Right now the best thing you can do is remind yourself that this is ground zero, all the healing is ahead of you, there's a lot to learn but you will learn it as you go.

I’m a believer in slowly incorporating better eating habits & food choices back into your day. Aim to work towards how & what you were eating in those first few years after your surgery. To begin may be start tracking your food to see what may need to be adjusted. Then work on hitting those protein & fluid goals & portion sizes. After a couple of weeks change something else like reducing your snacks or change up a cooking style. Work through what ‘rules’ you have become complacent about making a change or two every couple of weeks. Making changes this way is much easier to adopt and adapt to.Also don’t think of them as ‘rules’. That sounds restrictive, inflexible and limiting. How you eat should complement your lifestyle, be sustainable & flexible. Maybe get in touch with a therapist to talk through what may be happening that may be influencing some of your food choices & habits. Maybe get in touch with a dietician too just to check your on the right track again. All the best.

Loads of useful suggestions here (as ever!) Seems such a long time ago now. I am the exception to the rule - after 2 weeks of pre-op protein shakes and 2 weeks of post-op liquids my first pureed meals were like the tastiest things I've ever had. I lovvvved them. I basically pureed a selection of whatever my family were having (I cook for everyone) with a bit of extra liquid (gravy was best) and gobbled it all down! Saved a couple of tiny portions (like a tablespoon or two) for my other meals that day or the next and hit my protein goal mainly from protein yoghurts and protein shakes. Strangely I didn't have soup until the next phase but it's still a big go-to for lunch now, especially with lentils for added protein.

The thing that scares me about staying away from the scale. Is that I did that while I was 300lbs because if I didn't know my weight then I wasn't gaining so it didn't matter, I am a size 4 right now which is INSANE, so I really couldn't imagine myself losing anymore weight anyways but I was hoping for the last 2.4lbs dang nabbit! I am not mentally prepared for the scale to go up let alone 4lbs in less than a week. Thank you so much for the words, it has helped. I know it cannot be me. Its just really disheartening to see it going up almost every day

As others have said, I felt absolutely no hunger after surgery. I got a little tired of the same flavors every day and kind of missed chewing, but I wasn't hungry. I even had to go back on liquids for a few more weeks because of some vomiting issues and it was fine. For resting, the first couple days home I rested a lot. I would bring a big tumbler of water and a premade protein shake into the living room and just sit and watch TV and nap when I needed. That passed quickly and the pain was mostly gone within a few days. You will be amazed how quickly you are feeling back to normal. You've got this!