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Thank you @dsdesigna! All great points and reminders and thank you for the encouragement. I do need to get outta my head on the numbers game bc I do have many non scale successes! I didn’t think about the losing 34 in 8 weeks but I guess you are right about that! I’ll check back in and let you know how I’m doing! Thanks again!

Hi Everyone, I’m a lurker here...first time posting. I’m 8 weeks out post op from my DS. I lost 25 lbs before the surgery; right out of surgery bc of the fluids I gained 11 lbs, - lost that and an additional 23 lbs for a total of 48 so far. I get very frustrated by the scale. I am seeing differences in my clothes and health, but I want to scale to move faster than it is. I was thinking the weight would come off quicker. I basically eat 6 Snacks a day. Usually hit my 80-100 grams of Protein every day. Calories range from 700-900ish. I’m wondering if I’m eating too much? Is this normal?

On fasting days, I don't worry so much about cals. But for instance, if I was doing every day as a 16:8, then you need to meet the macros that you've been eating either to maintain or to lose. You know? For me, I do some BS gyration. LOL. I actually combine 16:8 with ADF or OMAD--so it becomes more of a 23:1. On those days my goal is to stay at or under 500 cals with my protein averaging around 50g for the day. Then I alternate with 16:8 where I eat 900-1100 cals and 60-74g of protein per day. My average protein is about 60g and cals average about 825 for the month.

Well since you are preop I would think it would be up to you unless you are on your preop diet to shrink your liver in which case it is not allowed. In my understanding, alcohol affects post op BS patients differently and it is important to be really careful until you know how it affects you. I have heard of some people developing alcoholism after BS. I personally have drank alcohol in moderation since age 18 and continue to do so and I have not encountered any problems with it.

Y’all... day 3 of this liquid bs, stinks! I really was okay with it until today... sorry- just venting! 🙄

Today was my first set of appointments to start the process; nurse practitioner, dietician/nutritionist, and physical therapist. In addition, I got my bloodwork and EKG done. I already have a mammogram and colonoscopy on record. I went in with a positive attitude and I think that helped, I was more excited than nervous. I mentioned that I had been reading the forums on this site to learn what I could and I think it helped me comprehend the massive amount of information I was given because I sort of studied ahead, plus, they gave me a notebook The dietician noted that I take a lot of supplements, and she stressed that I will be restricted to taking only a few after surgery, at 200% the regular dose; multi-vitamin that includes iron and other minerals and B12 sublingual at night, calcium citrate 500mg liquid or chew three times a day, plus vitamin d, liquid or small gelcaps. I forgot to ask about my Wellbutrin and allergy medicine. Oh well, there's time! A lot of people in these forums say NOT to try the drinks, food, or supplements pre surgery, but my dietician encouraged me to try different things to find what I like (even though my preferences may change post surgery). I have already purchased some Protein20 drinks, Premier Protein shakes, sugar free Gatorade, Propel electrolyte water, bone broth, and some Millie's sipping broth samples. My choice is the gastric sleeve but they will probably try to convince me that the bypass is the best option (and "gold standard" as I keep reading everywhere). I was scoped in July and they found a hiatal hernia, some non-bloody ulcers, and Schatzki's ring. I was instructed to continue with the Omeprazole in order to continue to calm my esophagus and stomach. I hope they let me stick with the sleeve, I don't want to deal with malabsorption issues and I prefer being able to take NSAIDS. I have enough dumping from having my gallbladder removed and being sensitive to grease/oil. Today while at the hospital, I had a long break so I had brunch consisting of an egg-salad sandwich (which they said was freshly made that morning) and half a bag of chips. Let's just say I had to visit the restroom 4-5 times during the rest of my time there, ugh! The insurance company has told my hospital (OHSU Portland Oregon) that the procedure is covered, but have not yet responded regarding what they require from me. The hospital requires two nutrition classes and a few more tests. My EKG came back "borderline" so I am being referred to a cardiologist to make sure everything is ok. I made my two nutrition class reservations and psychological evaluation appointment, as well as my sleep study consult. I'm 58 and have had a hysterectomy (1 ovary left) so I'm not required to get a pap smear, review birth control, and they're not requiring that I be screened for drugs & alcohol (I quit smoking 31 years ago). I'm hoping to have it all done by February, but won't know what else I need to do until my insurance company forks over some information! This facility only requires 24 hours of clear liquids before surgery (yay). While I was given my diet information, I think I'm going to slowly incorporate better habits and definitely pay attention to my protein and fluid intake for now. Since my BMI is slightly over 41, I was cautioned not to lose more than 10 pounds because it would put me below the required 40 BMI. That is unless I end up being diagnosed with sleep apnea (I have high cholesterol); neither joint pain or depression qualify as co-morbidities. My lab results have already been provided and they found my ferritin to be low, so I need to begin taking carbonyl iron with vitamin C right away. I've read a lot of different posts of people sharing their program information, so here is my post-surgical diet information from my booklet: STAGE ONE - first day following surgery - CLEAR LIQUIDS STAGE TWO - starting day two post surgery, for 14-21 days - FULL LIQUIDS STAGE THREE - starting 2-3 weeks post surgery, for approximately 6 weeks (depending on how the patient is doing) - SOFT FOOD STAGE FOUR - approximately two months post surgery - SOLID FOOD (low sugar & low fat) Over the weekend I cleaned out my cupboards of a bunch of food and food-like substances; what wasn't expired I took to work. Fed the crows some expired cereal and crackers. Haven't tackled the freezer yet. Since my surgery isn't scheduled yet I have plenty of time! I just wanted to thank everyone who posts their experiences and questions and advice, I think people are very supportive here for the most part!

Hi! Here’s a disgusting story for those who love infected, gross, oozing things: After my surgery in June of this year I healed up very quickly and nicely. Except for my belly button. It was very sore and smelled horribly. I figured I was just healing and since belly buttons are gross anyway, it was just taking a little longer. Additionally, my belly button was all the sudden TWICE AS DEEP! WTF?! Went to my two week post op and the nurse practitioner (bc my a-hole dr just couldn’t find the time to see me after a $40k surgery) said he didn’t even cut me open in my belly button. I said “uhhhhh yeah he did! I have stitches in there!!!!” How the hell did she not know where he cut me open? Anyway, she said oh it’s just the way you’re healing. Fine, whatever. Then a couple months goes by. Still infected, smelly, sticky, etc. I go back for my 2 month check up. She again said it’s just the way I’m healing. So it’s been four months since surgery and last night I was in the tub and washed my belly button and it hurt so bad! It’s beyond infected. Swollen, full of yellow puss, skin is falling off and there are little sores. WTF?! So anyway, my question is: has this happened to anyone else? Also, I know some insurance companies will cover skin removal if the area is constantly irritated/infected. Has anybody ever had any luck getting a tummy tuck covered through their insurance due to irritation/infections of the skin? I have medical mutual in case anyone has ever had any experience with that specific company. Thanks for listening and for any advice! (Yes I will call my doctor AGAIN tmw morning).

What a great spot, so glad to find this thread! I had my sleeve 9/26 at 352 - no loss during the preop phase bc I have (had?) huperinsulinemia and nothing would budge. The sleeve is supposed to correct that, and I sure pray that’s true. So far down about 26 lbs but 17 of that was week 1, so I feel like the jury is still out. I’m 5’ nothing with hEDS and arthritis, peri-menopausal at 47. If I can get below 300 I think I can do more working out.

I'm only a few days from getting a sleeve and honestly it can't come fast enough (plus missing work sounds great which I never do) I've been really enjoying reading peoples experiences on here, more than I thought I would. Does anyone have any reading material related to post-op that they'd recommend? Books, blogs, articles etc. I also am a minority it seems because bc I'm 25 years old, bmi 30 and 6'1, so if anyone has similar stats I would love to hear about your process.

Today I'm on a clear liquid diet bc ds surgery is tmrw. May sound silly but, I wanted to check and see if bone broth was ok to drink vs chicken broth? I know bone broth has bone marrow and pureed organs in it. I just had this sinking feeling come over me that I should check before I drank some. Thanks so much! Sent from my SM-G930P using BariatricPal mobile app

I would definitely not get the surgery now if you are feeling this way. To be honest, I had no idea how restricting the surgery would be. I thought I was going to have no cravings or hunger. Therefore, I was so excited and ready. I am 25 years old. I got the surgery on 08/17/2018. Let me just tell you, I am still dealing with food depression. I have no way to comfort myself now. I used to do it with food and alcohol after a long week of work. Now I cannot do that. Therefore, this tells myself I was not mentally prepared for the surgery. It’s too late now. I am stuck with the exhaustion and depression and boring life. I am stuck with this fear of food and fear or of gaining weight back. Still have an unhealthy relationship with food, but now it’s not eating. Ugh just terrible. I was a binge eater, though. Good luck. It is your choice. I am happy I got it because I am losing weight and feeling more confident. I hated being super fat. I felt disgusting after the fact I ate. So yes I am happy I did this, but it sucks at the same time. I think surgery is harder than actually dieting because you have no choice on how much to eat and you can’t have your cheat day because it all just hurts the little sleeve. I am just ranting now Bc I’m tired. Best of luck!!!

So I assume you were stable on one medication a year ago at the time you had surgery and now you need two additional medications to be stabilized and your BS is giving you phentermine to counteract the weight gain. There has got to be a better option than taking all these drugs. Besides weight loss, has anything else happened to make you more emotionally unstable in the last year? If so, maybe that needs to be addressed. IMHO, you need a good therapist, good support in your life, good sleep and daily exercise. Psychiatrists are trained that the only way to manage mental illness is via medication and I agree with this for people that are psychotic, schizophrenic, bipolar etc. but people need more than drugs to become emotionally stable. I urge you to take control of your situation and not to believe that you have to take every medication a doctor prescribes. I am not saying you don't need any medication but it can not do the whole job by itself.

Oh my gosh! Im so glad someone posted this because I wanted to talk about it. Honestly I don't like much lately. Everything is entirely too sweet or too salty. Im craving spicy all the time so I jazz up my veggies and protein sources with Cajun spices. Most of the things I crave I get it, try it, hate it. Ive also started doing something I didn't use to. I smell everything before I taste it. Like hum...what IS THIS THING....Nope! Not going to like it. Not only has my taste buds gone wackadoo, my sense of smell has gone haywire and I can smell everything a mile away. Not that I couldn't before but now its ultra sensitive. Last week an employee downstairs was cooking in our kitchen we have, and what ever it was made me nauseated to the point that I threw up an hour later just from the stench. Not to mention she was literally boiling everything in vegetable oil. UH! I laughed with a friend because I used to eat everything now im ridiculously picky, to the point of annoyance. Protein bars? Picky! Shakes? Hate them now so I moved to mixable "watery" type protein sources like Isopure. Only flavor I like is Grape. Eggs? Yuck! Soups? Picky as heck! Pretty much only vegetable minestrone no noodles. BC noodles taste like rubber to me. Deli Meat? Too much for me threw that up. System cant handle it. Chicken? Barely able to get it down. Tried the infamous "Real Good Foods" & "Halo Top Ice Cream" both didn't agree with me at all. So what am I living on? Chicken salad (tiny bit), tuna salad, ham salad (any kind of salad mayo type), Isopure Zero Carb, Quest Bars (ultra picky with these too), Quest Protein Chips, Amy's Chili & Minestrone Veggie soup, green beans, Salmon (any types of fatty fish), Caulipower Pizza, still looking for the perfect organic green juice with low fruit sugars even cold pressed like Buda Juice. Need to check the macros on it. Just as an FYI - My surgery was 7/30 so im not super recent but it hasnt been very long either.

This is a rant and a rave. Firstly I would like to say that I have always found the people here to be in the most part helpful and supportive. The same cannot be said for all other sites. Some of the sanctimonious BS from some peeps is unreal. Example Wow reading this thread is depressing. So many people saying never to drink alcohol again. Absolutes ( never )are very hard to accept. I got my band 9 years ago and was never told I had to give up alcohol. I enjoy a glass or 2 of wine a couple of times a week. Maybe I'm lucky I didn't become an alcoholic! Now looking at revising to RNY so I understand that I am going to have to give that up, at least for the foreseeable future but I would hate to think that I could NEVER have a glass of wine again. alcohol is pure sugar. The body uses that pure sugar to function instead of burning your stored fat for energy. Maybe ifvyou had not used alcohol you would be at goal weight and not looking for a revision. You are a perfect example of the truth of what those who are saying about alcohol use are saying. Alcoholics and drug abusers in recovery use the never absolute every day. They have to, no other choice. Not using absolutes, like never is often just an excuse.

Were you cleared to eat beef? I am not UNLESS its grass fed. Cuts of beef are very restricted from my program. Which is fine I am doing great with NO animal protein and feel amazing!!!!!!!!!

The last case i picked up was really thick and I haven’t been drinking them bc I was thinking there was something wrong with that batch. Interested to hear what others are thinking. Thx for posting this! Band to sleeve revision surgery 1/16/17 HW: 283 CW: 171 GW: 160

Adding to my list: When you tell someone to use the search, knowing that there are over 1000 hits and they come back with some snarky bs about searching and not finding anything... like, yo, I know how many hits there are, because I searched before I told you to search, so nice try asshats.

That makes a lot of sense. I can see how helpful this forum is just being in the pre-op phase. It's been since 2016....long process for me bc of multiple insurance struggles. I can see how valuable this community will be to me even more post op! Thanks for your opinion. It's definitely helpful to me! Sent from my SM-G930P using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi there! I'm wanting to hear from the DS'ers who have made their DS public. Do you wish you hadn't? Fb or Instagram? What has been your experience? I'm trying to decide how I want to handle this. Surgery is set for this Monday 10/29. Part of me wants to make it public bc I'd like encouragement but another part of me don't bc I don't want ppl scrutinizing everything I eat. Sent from my SM-G930P using BariatricPal mobile app

Congrats on your surgery and what is important is everyone is safe/healthy/ and fed.

So glad you bring this up! Because this gentleman Ben Bikman, PhD, who is an expert in the field of energy movement (biochemistry) explains it so DANG well! The study linking protein consumption to insulinogenic activity was done in GLUCOSE burners--not in the framework of low carb/ketogenic dieting. He explains it VERY well in the YouTube of why in a low carb diet the protein is no longer associated with a silent insulin spike. It's at about the 31minute mark in the interview. It has to do with the insulin/glucagon ratio. It has a 20% increase in a high carb fed state. When you feed that same insulin/glucagon ratio to subjects in a low carb state, the insulin remained in a steady line and did not spike (32:38) in the interview. Don't believe me. I'm just a schmoe who's been studying this for 18 years. LOL! Believe this dude and I can hook you up with COUNTLESS professionals (MDs, PhDs, RDs, biochemists etc) who have access to true LABORATORY knowledge...lol

I had my sleeve surgery in August. I have a 2 year old boy, and a 5 year old girl. It was tough at first, because I didn't have the mental energy to worry about food for my family - I could only focus on my own nutrition and hydration needs. It was an adjustment for my husband because I'm the primary grocery shopper and cook. He was very supportive, though, and made sure that he and the kids were fed and happy. My two year old often wanted snuggles, but he's also very protective of me - I told him once that he couldn't jump on my belly, and ever after that, he'd ask "Tummy hurt?" before he hugged or snuggled on me. He's very sweet. I think your kiddos will be understanding if you explain what's going on in language they can understand. Don't feel selfish. This is a hard thing to go through, it's not the "easy way out" like so many people like to tell us. You're not just doing it for yourself - anyway, I didn't do it for myself. I did it so my kids will have me in their lives for longer. I'd like to meet grandbabies some day, and if I'd continued as I was, I probably wouldn't have.

My dad and husband have been super supportive but my mom has been worried telling me I could die and this surgery isnt safe and I need to just lose the weight as well. My Monster in law (mother in law) has always harped about my weight and when I told her the surgery I get backhanded compliments like, "well at least now you can wear smaller clothes and look great but youre pretty now." *rolls eyes* (and yeas she says them outside earshot to my husband). My boss knows bc i needed the time from work and were a super small office and then one of my friends knows bc shes having the same surgery as me in Jan. and i made the mistake to tell one coworker (i knew her from school before i started working there) and she said "are you sure you can do it? i mean youre always eating" (which im not at work bc no food is allowed at our desks and i dont see her outside work so how would she know) but mostly im just tired... im tired of the negativity and having pains in my ankles all the time bc of my weight , and starting to develop an array of other health issues due to my obesity. I know this inst a fix but in the end i deserve the right to any tools necessary to HELP better my body ....

I have BC/BS in NC. My guidelines pretty much say the same thing. But I had documented history with my doctor's going back years, that they filled out and say's yes to the V. Sleeve. I also have 5 months with a nutritionist the year before. When the W L center filled out all the forms and also entered the Physiatrist evaluation it went thru with no problems. But if you have to do six months W. Loss don't loss to much and take that chance of not having it done.

So I know I will need to have the excess skin removed from my stomach and a breast reduction. I went from 285 to 165. Surgery date was Aug 29th 2017. I have been lucky bc I am on my Mom’s insurance. Unfortunately she is retiring in a yr and a half so I will need to get it done before then. I haven’t heard of Medicare covering it all like my Mom’s insurance would. I didn’t pay anything to have the sleeve done. I know I won’t be that lucky again. I have stalled the last couple months to the point I canceled my one yr follow up. I haven’t gained but I haven’t lost either. I am going to go back to the beginning to get the sugar out of my system and I need to get back to the gym. I was walking 6 days a week but I started a new job that is stressing me out and doesn’t work with my hours. It was so much easier when I wasn’t working. Sorry this turned into a rant. At what weight did you all start consider plastics? I know I still need to lose at least 20 ibs if not 30.