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This if difficult to answer/compare. There are to many variables: 1. Type of surgery 2. How over weight someone is, 3. How surgery went 4. Type of job/work you have 5. How quick to recover 6. Pain management I say all this because it's different for each of us. I did well with surgery and was out the next day, very little surgery pain BUT my entire abdomen was a solid black bruise, so putting a seatbelt on to drive was impossible and it became only painful when I drove. My bruising lasted 45 days! I have two friends who had WLS, one went back in 2 weeks (the earliest her doctor would release her to go back) and another 7 days (although she said she wished she'd taken longer off - she was exhausted, sore and constipated). So, there's really no way to tell until you have surgery.

My doctor originally wanted me to take 6 weeks. I I've been out 9 weeks so far and counting. I have had a lot of complications and am about to have a feeding tube placed so it's not a common result at all

I'm 51, 9 weeks post op. I was working out regularly before surgery, doing well post op for the most part. Pretty sure I'll be feeling even better in another few weeks.

Hello ladies x Had my one month post op appointment today with the surgical team and he told me that all is well and should keep doing what I am doing wnd I am ready to start REAL FOOD and exercise! He did transfer me to a dietician immediately tho because he expected a higher loss than 10 kg for the first month but he did say 10 kg is still good and wanted me to speak to the dietician to understand more. And it turns out I am under eating and avoiding all sort of carbs which is effecting me and could possibly mean I am not retaining nutrients. I have been to scared of eating that I know for sure I was under eating. So she went over my plan and told ne to eat 8 well cooked meals! And to check back in 2 weeks with how I am feeling. She told me not to be too worried about calories now and we will talk more when I reach 80 kgs. I am wondering what your dietician have been telling u guys about carbs? R they part of ur meal plans?

My week was good. Making slow changes back in the right direction. Thank you

soooo question:...why do you think you need to be in the 1500-1700 range if you are maintaining fine in the 1800-2000 range? logic would dictate that you would lose weight given your current exercise regimen if you dropped cals...are you looking to lose more weight? or maybe decrease activity levels? if so, then yeah dropping down a few hundred cals would do the trick. but if not, then why try to fix something that ain't broke? I am a good 7 inches shorter than you and i maintain with 2300 cals a day...been at this level for about a year, and my weight has hovered around the same number +/- 3lbs the entire time. i don't count nor manage macros anymore, but a quick glance at MFP show that i'm well over 150g of net carbs every day this week and protein about 80g more or less; as for exercise, from what i've read from your posts we are probably about the same activity expenditure range. you wont "ruin everything" if you keep on top of things and watch whats happening (which sounds like what you are already doing), if you do that you would have plenty of time to adjust and make changes before it all goes to shite. you're doing great! keep it up

@BlueParis The music festival looks like a wonderful time! And I'm so glad to hear you're in a good place with how you feel about yourself. It makes such a difference, doesn't it? For me, it was a year ago today that I went to my appointment with my weight management doctor and was advised to consider having surgery. I had just finished a 2-week roadtrip, driving around 7,000km from Boston to Denver and back for a writing conference, with some great stops along the way. And by "just finished" I mean I had pulled into my driveway at about 10am that morning, having been delayed at the Canadian border (because the maps app on the iPhone didn't know the little border crossing it was sending me to closed at 4pm and I had to drive a couple more hours to find an open crossing!) and having to stay an extra night in Vermont because it was getting too late to make it home safely. After two weeks of restaurant meals and junk food snacks, I weighed in at my highest ever. A year later, I've lost 65 lb and am just 1.4 lbs away from no longer being classified as obese. I still have a ways to go, but it feels good to have gotten this far. Recently, I've had more trouble with vomiting, so I'm sticking with liquids for 24 hours to see if I can let my stomach rest. It seems I never know what will set me off. I have an appointment with my nutritionist coming up soon and will talk to her about it. I'm also struggling post-vacation with some sugar and carb cravings, along with having zero desire to do any cooking now that summer weather has arrived.

I have been told I don't need to do the LRD, but will probably start next week anyway. Finding liquid protein i can stand has been my biggest hurdle. I like the hot savory ones from unjury, so might stick with those.

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

Honestly, I just got new ones. I went from a size 10 ring to a size 5. I used ring sizers at first, but I was losing too fast and went from size 10 to 9, skipped over 8 and went to 7, then a month later went to 6, then stayed there for a bit, then went to 5 1/2 and 2 weeks later went to 5. Now that I'm at my final ring size (mostly because I can't get anything smaller than a 5 past my knuckle) I'll invest in getting my actual, genuine wedding set resized. i just got other rings to wear until I got to my final size.

Sorry to hear you’ve been going through all of that…thankful you’re finally home! Hope the pain subsides soon for you and energy levels start to get better. I’m 5 weeks post op & still low energy…keep telling myself my body is healing. Looking forward to getting energetic

The up to 4-6oz is meals. Mainly it’s my dinner meal. My snacks are usually no more than 2oz of weighed portions and depending on the food of choice, it’s not a lot visually either. I just moved and don’t see a PA for potential new surgeon for post op care until the first week in June. My previous nutritionist through them was also not very helpful with guidance either. The first one I had for the first 2 years was helpful but the new one isn’t/wasnt.

Hi all. Im 7 weeks post op as of today. I’m curious if anyone has hired an independent bariatric dietician… in other words, someone outside of your surgeon’s office to support you? I am not really satisfied with the level of support that I am getting from my surgeon’s office. I’d like at least a weekly or bi-weekly check in with someone and to discuss goals and things I can work towards. When I asked my surgeon’s office at my last follow up appointment if I was where I should be weight loss wise, I didn’t really get much of an answer. I asked where I should be at my three month follow-up and she couldn’t find her chart. So I never got an answer. I live in an area where I haven’t been able to find any support groups locally. I’ve located someone online with a wealth of experience in working with bariatric patients and is a certified dietitian. She works primarily online with patients. I am hesitant to move forward based on the price. Just curious if anyone has had luck with this or has any thoughts about it? I haven’t decided against it, just hesitant due to cost.

My go-to marinara brand is Bove's, which is made in Vermont and only contains plum tomatoes, olive oil, fresh onions, fresh garlic, salt, and fresh spices. It's delicious, but is pricey and can be harder to find if you aren't in New England. But the one I will get if I'm not able to find Bove's (or if I'm feeling like a cheaper option) is Ragu Kettle Cooked tomato basil, which you can get at Walmart and Target for under $3 a jar. It's about as close to homemade as you will find from a bigger brand and the ingredients look like things you keep in the kitchen. The turkey meatballs are fresh but precooked from Shady Brook Farms and can be found in a lot of grocery stores. The ingredient list is kind of terrible, though. They are tasty and heat up in 2 minutes, but once I actually looked at all the crap in them (I tossed them in the cart without checking), I will probably opt for a frozen version in the future if I don't want to make homemade. Speaking of frozen, they make frozen zucchini spirals, and I think you can get butternut squash and beet spirals, too. When made with fresh (not frozen) ingredients, I just toss it all in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Dinner done!

Hi gang! I had my RNY surgery on Tuesday, 04/16 and it went awesomely! I was super sore initially as well as swollen. Now at day 3, I have deflated greatly, and my pain is being managed pretty well. I don't think it could have been any better. One night in the hospital. I have a friend staying with me because my surgeon said now bending, lifting >10 pounds, and no driving while on narcotics. I have cats and can't feed them with those restrictions.

So, this is probably way more common than I think, it is just the first time I have experienced it 🤣 Yesterday I was able to eat more than I normally do - probably around 700-800 calories, which is really good for me as I wasn't getting much more than 300-400 in the past few weeks. Today my restriction feels very high. I ate a few mouthfuls of peanuts and some light babybel as a snack, didn't sit well at all despite these things never giving me problems. I gave it a little bit of a break, around 1 hr, then had some of my sandwich I'd made (wholemeal bread, ham, cheese, salad etc), and could only manage a few bites. Then my heart was absolutely racing. I'm talking about 115 bpm just sitting down, and then I just had to sleep. At work. I feel better now since waking up, but I am scared to eat again right now 🤣 Wtf was this 🤣

I start my pre op diet this week. I have everything. This is my second time with the diet. Last month surgery was cancelled the day prior due to lab work. So im back on track and scheduled 5/10. Nice to read all of your posts. I watched a couple of surgery videos today too.

it won't affect your stitches. It's in your large intestine - no stitches in that area. It's very common for it to take a week +/- for the first bowel movement - there's not much in there to come out. although that first one can be a doozy. Daily Miralax or stool softeners can help. just so you know, for some of us, constipation becomes a chronic problem. I think it has more to do with the high protein diet and some of the supplements (iron and calcium are the worst culprits) more than anything else. I have a capful of Miralax every morning to keep on top of it. Others use magnesium tablets, stool softeners, SmoothMove tea - whatever works!

Lots of great advice here but I will add my experience with having done this before and just having a revision that exercising and eating clean makes it so much easier. My mood and energy level are so much better this time and head hunger is pretty non existent so far (part of which is a greater metabolic change witb the more aggressive surgery I’m sure but when I don’t exercise as much or I eat processed junk I can feel the difference part of it may also be that I’m just too darn busy to think much about food). For me carbs crave carbs. I learned this after my sleeve but I wasn’t super careful with it. I’m not taking about the better carbs from fruits and veggies, but the processed type. Eating even a smaller portion is a slippery slope for me so I will avoid these as long as I can and if I do have them I know I will have to white knuckle it a few days through the cravings. I make all my food from scratch and freezing food has made it possible to not cook every night. I freeze small portions and I have a note in my phone if what’s on the freezer by date. When I wake up and look at my calendar as I’m drinking my proffee (chilled coffee and protein shake) I decide if I have time to cook and if not I pull a bag out of the freezer and put in the fridge. Then when I get home I put it on the counter or defrost in microwave if necessary time wise and make a veggie to throw it together. A really nutritious and yummy dinner done in 10-15 minutes and bonus, a lot less dishes. I started walking early out and added group classes that are offered at my community center and now i am up every morning walking first thing. I actually put on exercise clothes after my shower and sleep In them and first thing I’m already dressed and ready to go for my walk. ooh and the support groups that my team offers are great in addition to staying very active on here. I actually met a walking buddy there and we walk together down by the river once a week, the day that I don’t have group classes and we cheer each other in in addition to the once a month in person support group meeting. I also chose to tell more people this time. Some were against it but I educated them and now they are starting to come around about it. I think it will be easier fir me to say no thank you to food when everyone around me knows my goals. The first time I did this so many people would say to me you’re doing so good. You can have one slice of pizza or one brownie but the problem was this was my family and I was around them several days a week so just this one became just three or four. I actually told them that when I see pizza or brownies, I already want one bad enough on my own. I don’t need someone else tempting me. I think they got it. We’ll see. I guess if they do it this time.

I agree with the others - I found warm liquids miles easier to drink a few weeks post op. Glad you're finding your groove OP - so much adjusting to do along the way but it's so worth it!

Yea. She can prep some things for you. At first you will be on all liquids and once you get to puree you will be eating tiny portions. By the time you get to regular food you will have dropped a significant amount of weight and may be surprised at how much better you feel. I have a tremendous amount of energy now. I haven’t exercised in 20 years but now I’m walking daily, doing yoga twice a week and just tried a cardio/strength class today that I think I’m going to keep doing as well. I started at a lower BMI than you so you may not be doing rigorous exercise right away but you will be able to do more than you can now for sure and each day you will be able to do a little more and more. You can always supplement with protein shakes anytime too. Sometimes if I’m on the run I will have a shake for lunch even though I’m back to regular foods and I have one mixed with coffee every morning (that’s pretty good by the way if you like iced coffee I make mine with decaf). Perhaps you and your wife can cook together once you’re physically able and while you’re learning. I did that with my husband for a while before he got too busy with work and it was actually kinda fun. Anyways, I’m really excited for you on this journey. This surgery is life changing. It takes a great deal of work and commitment but it’s well worth it.

I did not exercise while I was losing. No gym membership. No walking miles. No cycling. Nothing. Didn’t hinder my weight loss. However I did up my everyday activity. Parked further away from where I was going. Walked up escalators. Made multiple trips up & down my stairs instead of making one or two trips to bring up the groceries, etc. Or go down to take or the rubbish and then go back down to get the mail instead of doing it in one trip. Saw a program by the late Dr Michael Mosley that compared the benefits of doing a block of 30 mins of exercise a day vs doing 3 or 4 bursts of 5 -10 minutes totalling 30mins of exercise a day. The difference was minimal. They called it exercise snacking and it’s what I started doing about 20months ago. I incorporate a number of yoga based stretches, resistance band exercises and exercises to improve flexibility across my day. Honestly I wouldn’t burn 30 calories but I have more defined & toned muscles in my arms and legs and my flexibility has improved which is what I wanted. I don’t find it a chore and I sort of enjoy it (something I never really down with any other exercise except yoga). I do it, or a modified version if I’m away, every day bar the odd day once or twice a month. Exercise contributes only about 10% of any weight you’re to lose. However, there are other benefits to your health and well being. You just have to find something you enjoy doing & doesn’t feel like a chore or a punishment.

I have meritain and of course my doctors office checked to make sure I had coverage. They gave them a list of pre surgery procedures I would have to do such as ultrasound, endoscopy, nutrition classes, psych evaluation among other things prior to surgery, which I have done and has cost me almost 3 thousand dollars out of pocket to do. Now they denying me saying I’m not covered because obesity is not covered on my insurance plan, but the doctor offered called prior ( 8 months ago ) to make sure. When I call meritain they told me to have them remove the code that means “obesity” and resubmit documents and it should be approved. My doctor office is saying there is no way to do that. I am highly disappointed and upset to have spent so much money and hopes for a surgery that was CHECKED prior to doing all of these other procedures just to be denied now that it’s time to schedule. Anyone with any knowledge , experience or advice on this? And how to get it approved with my insurance??

I finally gained weight!!! I'm officially at 180, and I like that. I feel better, I have more energy, and I don't feel nearly so run down and out of it. Still look super thin, but it is what it is. Now I'm going to work on maintenance since this is where I want to stay. I'm ok with 2 pounds in either direction, but I definitely don't want to drop below 178 again lol I got all the way down to 170 and it was just really bad. I literally don't work out at all anymore because I'm on my feet all day working 5 days per week. I increased my calories to 1700 per day (up from 1500), my carbs to 55 net per day (up from 40 or so), my protein to 100g per day (up from 80), my healthy fats to 80g per day (up from 50), my fiber intake to 30g (10 from supplements and the rest from food - up from 20) and upped my fluids to 120 fl oz per day (up from 90 - 100). I'll add my weekend workouts back in now (nothing crazy, just core and strength but on the lighter side, not heavy) so I don't gain too much now that I've figured out how to finally gain weight lol