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I read a news article this morning that really set me off. So into the Rants & Raves bit bucket this goes. The three most important elements after gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as protein shakes. Without sufficient protein, your body will scavenge protein from other areas of your body, such as your muscles. Protein is extremely important after surgery as its job in the body is to build and maintain tissues including your body's major organs and skeletal muscles. Protein deficiency, when continued over a long period of time can cause a disease known as protein caloric malnutrition. Common symptoms are poor healing, fatigue, hair loss and muscle wasting. Immediate post op, protein promotes healing of the staple line and incisions. The article that I read was titled "Protein powders may be damaging your health" at http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2018/03/01/protein-powders-may-be-damaging-your-health.html Sometimes you come across an article that was intended to unjustly scare you and this one fits the bill. Right below the Title was a picture of a young healthy man mixing up a protein shake. The captions below read "A new study showed 70 percent of protein powders tested had detectable levels of lead, 74 percent had cadmium and 55 percent had BPA, the chemical formula found in many plastics." The operative word here is detectable. Just because something is detectable doesn't mean it is harmful. Every year we make improvements to our instruments and their ability to measure substances. So today we can detect elements down to one-part-per-million or one-part-per-billion or one-part-per-trillions. And just because an element or substance can be detectable doesn't mean it is harmful, it is the amount of that element that is important. The poison is in the dose. So as far as I am concerned this article was nothing more than a hatchet job. Consider for a moment water. Is water harmful? No, not really. It is very beneficial. But if you drink too much of it all at once you may likely die. Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning, hyperhydration, or water toxemia is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside safe limits by overhydration (excessive water intake). The Poison is in the dose.

Congrats on five years out. You will work this back down. Don't let 20 pounds turn into 30, 40 or 50. Healthier you in 2019. I was sleeved in 2014. I had a sixteen pound gain my third year and worked it back down.

I had my VSG on Dec. 4, 2013. Ootpatient. Overall, I lost ~ 90 pounds, but alas, I have regained 20, and currently, am not still in "Onederland." I am not happy with that--as in bummed!!!. But this week, I am sticking to protein and working hard to avoid bad carbs. Pray for me, 'cuz I was really happy at the near 175 weight and a size 10 or so (down from a 22). I WILL get back to 180 or so. I WILL. How are the rest of my December 2013 sleevers doing? Share your stories and if any struggles. Share pics if you choose. Let's still be helpers one to another. And despite all--even if any slip-ups--congratulations on what I trust has been a slimmer, happier life, post-VSG five years ago this month.

if you're still seeing your bariatric team, I'd start there. Or if not, is it possible to see them again? Otherwise, if you're not still tracking your food intake, start there. Track for a couple of weeks to figure out what your average calorie intake is now. Then try cutting back by 100 calories or so for another couple of weeks. If that doesn't do the trick, cut back by another 100 calories. Rinse and repeat. Eventually you'll find the level where you'll start losing weight. also, start doing some of things we did that first year after surgery (NOT all the way back to shakes and purees - I mean how we ate after the first couple of months - focusing mostly on protein and non-starchy vegetables. Then if you have room, maybe a small serving of fruit or whole-grain carb). if you're having trouble with hunger while cutting back, add in more vegetables - I try to eat vegetables with every meal when I'm trying to lose (I don't always with breakfast, but I DO blend a cup of fresh spinach or kale in with my morning protein shake to make up for it). I also always keep raw veggies (with a dip made from plain Greek yogurt and ranch dressing mix), sugar free popsicles, and sugar free Jello around, too. Healthy fats like avocado and peanut butter or a handful of nuts can also help with the hunger - but just have a small portion of those since they're pretty high in calories. good luck with this. I know it's tough - I'm battling a 10-lb COVID gain right now and I know it isn't easy, but people do it... At least you're catching it at 40 lbs while it's still do-able oh btw - I know a lot of people who've regained who've had success with Weight Watchers, Keto, and/or intermittent fasting - so those might be options for you, too...

I quit about 10 years ago and I don't think I could have done it cold turkey. I tried a lot of times without the nicotine gum and never got past a few, awful days. With the gum it was really doable (although still about the hardest thing I've ever done). Now I am one of those terribly obnoxious ex-smokers who can't even be in the same room with a lit cigarette. I don't know the answer to your ultimate question, but one thing for sure I don't understand a doctor who advises you to quit cold turkey. To me it just seems like being set up to fail. The last thing I want to say is that I think the dangers of cigarette smoking are worse than the dangers of obesity. I don't think it makes sense to think of quitting smoking as a minor detail you'll take care of easily on your way to getting the lap band. I think it's going to be really hard, and might involve additional relapses. My recommendation would be to put the surgery on hold for a little while and focus totally on quitting smoking. Once you have that really under control then think about the surgery. Quitting smoking is hard. Doing it two weeks before lap band surgery is, in my opinion, just piling too much difficult change on your poor self. I just think it is really asking a too much of yourself to try and do all that at the same time. Don't underestimate how hard it will be to quit smoking. I don't think you can easily commit to yourself that you'll quit smoking two weeks before surgery and definitely stay quit. That is a really, really hard thing to do.

well, it is done. I have the band and was not expecting as much pain as I ended up having, but it was not too bad. I found Dilaudid does nothing for me, and the Morphine just took the edge off. I went in to the hospital at 6:30am and was taken back to surgery at 8:30am. The nurse who prepped me and started my IV kept telling me how she had a friend who hated her band and wished she would have never gotten it. How she had had it for 4 months now and only lost 20 pounds. Then she emphasized how I may never be able to eat certain foods again. What a downer attitude to have to put up with right before surgery!!! She did not know I was a nurse and had researched the surgery and weighed all of the possible outcomes for over a year now. I looked over at my husband and he rolled his eyes at what she was saying. She should definatley not be the nusre prepping lap band patients. Anyways.... I was out of surgery by 12:30 and doing by swallow test by 1:30. Boy was that stuff nasty!! Worse than barium!! Everything looked a-okay and I had my pain somewhat controlled and was up and walking by 3:30pm. We left the hospital by 4:30pm and I just kind of camped out on the couch with lots of pillows that night. Going up the stairs to get the the bathroom was a challenge the first 2 trips, but now is fine. I am a nurse, so the hardest thing for me to do is ask for my husbands help. It is hard to be the receiver of care when you are used to being the caregiver. I have only had to take my liquid lorotab once so far today, at 9am...I am going to take a dose here in a minute though. I was taking it about every 4-6 hours around the clock the first day after surgery and the day of surgery. I will update more later. I took a shower today and that felt really good!! Hope everyone else is doing well!!

I've been very frustrated too. First week after surgery, down 10 pounds. Next 10 days, nothing.....except the day I was UP one pound!! I know our bodies go through changes and we should expect times like this, but it still SUCKS!

Hi everyone... just wanted to let everyone know that I am out of surgery and recovering. Pain level is about a 4 out of 10. Hospital Angeles in tj it's beautiful staff is amazing...no regrets . No nausea or vomiting... it's really better than what I had ever imagined. Thanks again for everyone's support and posts.. .

I am now 2 weeks post op and the food grieving does get better! I still think about it sometimes but not as often. It gives me great comfort to remember that this will all be over soon. As for the age thing, I am 23 and I think that doing it at this age was the best decision I have ever made. We still have years of life ahead of us and why drag along with us all that excess weight. Honestly it would be exhausting. I want to have kids one day and be able to play with them without huffing and puffing. Furthermore, our bodies now are capable of handling the excess weight because we are at our prime. Who knows what could happen 10 years from now? I definitely don't want to know. Our bodies will not rejuvenate in the future as they do now. We should actually feel extremely lucky that we had this opportunity at a young age. I am sure there are many who would have jumped at the chance to do this in their 20s if it was available. Stay strong! I just try my best to preoccupy myself with other things. I also watch a bizarre amount of dance videos on YouTube to keep my motivation up. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

It is completely normal to be absolutely miserable during the pre-op. Day 4 was probably the worst for me and then I kind of got "over the hump" and settled into it (grudgingly) for the remaining 10 days (mine was 15 days). I am not going to sugar-coat it. These next few weeks are going to be some of the hardest of your life. I'm sure you are experiencing a lot of anxiety and stress about the upcoming surgery on top of dealing with the misery of the pre-op diet. Once you've had the surgery, the recovery is not a lot of fun. You will be sore, tired, thirsty, and very emotional. You need to just focus on living one minute to the next in this little stretch here. There are a lot of things you will need to do to stay on top of... your sipping, your Protein intake, your Vitamins, and your walking. So focus on those things and doing them when you need to be doing them. It will seem like it drags on FOREVER, but then in a few weeks, you'll look back and not be able to believe how far you've come. Hang in there! And no matter what, hold onto the knowledge that it WILL all be worth it in the end and you WILL feel normal again. I promise!

I just got a call from one of my doctor's nurses, and she said that my band date may have to be rescheduled from 02/10 to a later date due to rolling blackouts (maybe the end of the month?!?!). All of the surgeries that they had on schedule for today were cancelled, and they anticipate the same for tomorrow (however, I'll probably still have my pre-op consultation with my doctor...which is good -- I just have to call them tomorrow morning to make sure they are open). What would bump me later is all of the procedures that are cancelled (they have schedule priority first). I've never ever encountered rolling blackouts in my area (we are currently experiencing a hard freeze and some Water lines at the local power plants have broken). The hospitals, fire, and police departments are fine -- but smaller centers like the surgicenter where I'm supposed to be banded have been affected. I guess I'm just disappointed...sorry to vent. It's just hard to work towards something, have a date on the calendar, and then possibly have it taken away for a later date. Boo. I think the pre-op diet has made me a little cranky. LoL.

First off, thanks to everyone who shares their experiences on this site. The forums have been so helpful!!! My surgery has been scheduled for July 30th!!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!! Gotta tell you guys, I'm so nervous about this two week diet (which I start tomorrow). 10 lbs in 2 weeks?!?!? Yikes! In fact, I'm about to go out to shop for my shakes & grocery items. I think I can...I think I can...I know I can

Monday morning for me too. Best of luck. Definitely a lifestyle change. Been on liquid diet for 10 days and it hasn't been bad. Lost 16 pounds so far. Just less I have to lose after.

It isn't as bad as I thought it would be already lost 8 lbs. hope the surgery goes as well!!! Good luck to everyone out there on pre op I got 10 days to go!!! Surgery on Sept 2 nd

I am in my trial period of getting protein drinks. I bought the sample packets of AlltheWhey.com's Whey protein isolate. As far as I know, Soy leaves an after taste from what I have read from other people. I tried my first shake today as a snack and let me tell you it filled me right up. It has 25g of protein in it, fat free, no sugar and all the amino acids. The place is online and is very reasonable. www.allthewhey.com I tried the chocolate mint packet...it was good. Even my roomie who is very finicky liked the drink, he gave it a 6 on a 10 scale, and I mean he is very picky about what he drinks/eats as in taste. Give a whirl! Good Luck to ya.

I had VS surgery almost one year ago on Aug 4, 2014. It's been quite a ride and I've fallen off the wagon more times than I'd like to admit, but I wouldn't go back for anything! I'm 5'8" and weighed 265 at my highest. Today I weigh 178. I still have 10-15lbs to go-- by far the hardest pounds to lose! Here are my before/after pics.

I went to a support group and the nutritionist told us that now that we weigh less, we need to increase our exercise. For example, we used to be able to burn 100 calories in 10 min of walking or elliptical. Well now, its only 75 calories because we weigh less. Stay the coarse on healthy eating, but up your intensity on your exercise. Also, this "stall" is common. Although we are not dropping rapid weight, over the coarse of a month, we drop the same. The scale might not move for 2-3 weeks, but then all of a sudden you lose 3-5 lbs. I had my surgery May 28, 2013. First 5 months, 10 lbs a month easy. Now its more like 5-8 lbs. Remember, you still want to lose it slowly. That is the overall most healthy!

This line of thinking fits with my current plan. I am at 80-90 grams of Protein a day. I usually begin the day with a Protein shake that has 25-30 grams of protein. My remaining meals have between 15-20 grams and two Snacks meet my daily requirements. It makes sense to spread out the amount of protein intake but what the article didn't state was that our bodies are not capable of absorbing huge amounts of protein at any one sitting. Absorption rates do vary by the kind of protein ingested. My understanding is that whey protein is among the best for absorption at about 10-15 grams per hour. So ingesting large amounts protein can end up as stored fat.

I'm glad the moment passed for you. I'm 19 days out and in the beginning I was definitely hungry just like you. I wanted anything and I knew that u was truly hungry. However like you I would take a nap and that would help. Now I'm learning that if I drink a Protein shake it help tremendously with the hunger. So maybe that's something you could try. I know for me that helps at night as well. Good luck and hang in there.

My surgery is on monday (Nov 10) as well, dan! Cheers to a great monday!

I'm scheduled for March 10 unless I get moved up. Just got my insurance approval in the mail on Friday.

Had surgery June 4th and I will get fill Monday but I am able to eat normally now and gained back like 10 lb! What is wrong with me? I have such a huge addiction with food....

Hey Guys, Thanks a bunch for you support! Talked to the hospital today, appointment got bumped up to 10:40am... Cuts my freaking out by 80 minutes if nothing else! Mike, what sort of challenge do you have in mind? A little cometition sounds good! I also have wedding pics as a motivating factor so I am ready to go. No one has commented on how surgery affected their handicap... I guess I don't want to know! I too will post as soon as possible post op. It might not make much sense as I hear Demerol is pretty good, but I will definitely let you guys who are eagerly awaiting your own surgery how mine went. Thanks again for your support guys. Looking forward to the year of the Q. Q

So I've struggled with my weight all my life as most of the people on here probably have. I have tried every diet plan and fad diet out there. U weight loss, LA Weightloss, Weight Watchers about 20 times where at one point I did have some success about 10 years ago and lost 70 pounds which I kept off for 2 years or so then the weight crept back plus some over the last 7 or so years!! I'm at my highest weight I have ever been, well I was until I started the Very Low Calories diet about 9 days ago in preparation for my surgery next week and I am now down 7 pounds but I tell ya I have never done anything harder then this diet!! I have been an emotional wreck for the first week as I continue to cook regular meals for my family and survive my self on 3 protien shakes a day and limited veggies!! No fat, No carbs, No sugar!!! It's horrible, yes it gets easier but I can't help but have this voice in me saying "oh man ur not gonna be able to have that after surgery you should take advantage of it now"!!! I know that this diet is for my own good and health and that I need to learn self control and will power or as someone said to me on the forum the other day want power but it's so hard!! As the saying goes nothing worth wanting ever comes easy...so true!! Anyways so I'm from Edmonton, Alberta and my surgery is on Sept 26th in Vancouver at the Cambie Surgery Center by Dr.Phillip Mitchell who is from Calgary, Alberta. I am paying for my surgery myself because I want it now!!! Alberta does have a government funded program but it takes forever to get the surgery going that route and I'm afraid of how much weight I would gain waiting 2 more years to get the surgery just so I could have it for free!! So in thats me in a nut shell!!! I'm terrified (mostly about getting something stuck after the surgery that sounds terrible!!) and excited to start this new chapter in my life and I am so lucky to have a very supportive and loving husband and family!!!

Very interesting point, the diet/not to diet thing. I feel the same. As I said in many threads before I have been on a diet for 30+ years (I was first put on a diet when I was 9) and the only thing it did was make me fat. Lose 10 gain 20, lose 20 gain 30, it went on and on, the story of my life. Restricting myself from so much food that I love would make me go mad after having finished whatever diet Iwas on and eat 10 times as much as I normally would've eaten had I not "banned" that food in the 1st place. It's a fact that we (including children) eat much more of the "prohibited" food once we have it available. So yeah, I'll probably not get to goal that quick, but I have made that desicion, never "diet" again!