Surgery was yesterday, need encouragement

[thenewguy123 3]

I'm a 35 year old male 6'0" tall and starting weight 300. I've struggled all my life trying to lose weight and was eager to get this surgery and start anew. I had my surgery yesterday and am feeling today like I didn't have a good understanding of how intense this recovery was going to be, when I met with the doctor he said how easy someone like me would make it look. I thought it was an in and out easy surgery but I stayed over night and know I'd get dehydrated if it weren't for the IV. Every sip of Water I take hurts with intense gas pain. When does this get better? What should I expect from here? Going to talk to the doctor soon. Trying to stay positive and focus on why I did this.

[ChubRub 1,706]

It's only been a day!! I promise it will get better!!

Take small sips, and take gasX in addition to the prescribed pain meds. You will start feeling better soon! It took me about a week to be completely pain-free, and then after that it was just fatigue. Prepare for lots of naps!!

Good luck!!

[JRT Mom 919]

Congrats on getting your surgery! Yes, the first couple of days are kinda rough. Get up and walk as much as you can, and be patient with yourself when it comes to your first drinking experiences. You'll feel immensely better each day that passes. It took me five days before I started feeling like myself. Good luck, YOU GOT THIS!!

[Xx1jpt5xx 93]

Hey hang in there. The first two weeks are not pleasant. Get your fluids in. I'm 6' male and started at 345. I'm about 2 months out and am now 300 on the nose today. Guess we're both at the same spot now.

PM me if you have any questions.

[amboyle728 71]

I had my surgery in February, so I'm not that far behind. I'm not gonna lie. The first week is awful. I remember texting my family telling them I had "buyer's remorse," and that I thought I made a really bad decision. I seriously thought I'd made a big mistake. Much of it was getting the anesthesia and pain meds out of my body, which took about 4 -5 days. But it gets A LOT better, I promise. After about a week or two, I felt pretty good, still sore, but not so miserable. And now, about 8 weeks out, I feel great. I lost a good amount of weight, am back to eating normal texture food, and exercising without restriction. 8 weeks may seem like a long time, but it goes by before you know it. I feel 100% myself, now--but that first week or so...UGH!

Have patience, follow your doctor's advice and don't worry. You're body just underwent some major internal revisions and it will take some time to get used to it. Most people I know were in the hospital for two nights following surgery, so if you got out after one, your doctor must be happy with how your are doing, even if you don't feel so great. In the meantime, take small, frequent sips of Gatorade or Pedialite, or try a sugar-free ice pops (they were my salvation!). Watch some Netflex, read a good book, and allow yourself to heal. You will get there

[NovaLuna 710]

Oh boy, the first two weeks are hard, but it does get better, I promise! I had issues with getting Fluid in as well, and that was the main reason I was in the hospital for 3 days. The gas pain took almost a week to go down for me... not fun! But, I gotta say the incision spot where they removed the vast majority of my stomach from... that hurt like a b***h! I would cry just getting up and down. When I was up, I didn't want to sit because it'd hurt, and when I was down I didn't want to get up because it'd hurt... but, the time will pass faster than you think. It's like you blink and you'll be passed all that! You just have to stick it out the best you can until then. Heck, I'm three months out and it doesn't feel at all like that much time has passed already.

I wish you the best in a speedy recovery!

[Sx2020,feb 7]

3 hours ago, thenewguy123 said:

I'm a 35 year old male 6'0" tall and starting weight 300. I've struggled all my life trying to lose weight and was eager to get this surgery and start anew. I had my surgery yesterday and am feeling today like I didn't have a good understanding of how intense this recovery was going to be, when I met with the doctor he said how easy someone like me would make it look. I thought it was an in and out easy surgery but I stayed over night and know I'd get dehydrated if it weren't for the IV. Every sip of Water I take hurts with intense gas pain. When does this get better? What should I expect from here? Going to talk to the doctor soon. Trying to stay positive and focus on why I did this.

Just walk as much as you can that will help release the gas. I had a friend whom had surgery last year shes helped me so much and when she txt me just walk it will help I didn't even finish reading it and that same night I got up and started doing laps around nurses station. As for the hydration most hospitals have sugar free popsicles that helped a lot as well. Stay strong, each day it gets better! Just walk, sugar free pops and tiny sips. Think of the end results and all the things you will be able to do that you couldn't before. BTW congrats on surgery! 😁 the way u feel now is temporary....

[rjan 164]

I hear that....I was friggin miserable after the surgery. Even while the doctor is telling me what a good patient I am for getting up walking a lot and I'm thinking, "really? This is doing well? What did I do to myself!"

But it gets better really quickly! The gas pain will mostly go away in a few days to a week. Then you'll probably be really miserable about how little you can eat/pain when eating and drinking for a while. But that will pass too, as you move out of the liquid stage and your insides heal.

It took about 3-4 weeks after surgery before I started feeling like this was actually a great decision. Hang in there!

[SLCxn 23]

I had my surgery March 2019. When I got home from the hospital I could barely choke down 2 oz of Water or Protein and my doctors office would yell at me during check in calls because I wasn’t being “compliant.” I cried so many times in that first week and wondered why I purposefully did this to myself. By the next week, I was a new person. Most of the pain subsided and even though it was still an effort to get the water and protein down, I was doing it and feeling much, much better. Each day/week got better. Sometimes there were setbacks but mostly good days. Learning to eat again was a challenge then and is still a challenge now. One year post op I was down 115 lbs and beyond my goal weight. My whole life has changed. My health and numbers are really good and I would go through all that again without a doubt. You took such an amazing step having the surgery and you will get through this and you will be glad you did. Hang in there and keep us posted on your progress.

[thenewguy123 3]

Thanks for the encouragement me. My wife created this account for me, and made my first post while I was in the hospital ( I am actually only 34). I was fine by day two, but they had convinced me that I was going to in surgery at 10:00 AM and out the door by 2:30 PM, and I would not have made it the first day without the IV.

I had unfortunately only review this forum for peoples results at 6 months and 12 months, and didn't bother to look into the immediate after effects.

I am 9 days into my diet and down 20 lbs (had a 5 lbs spike post surgery). Surely I can hit 40 lbs down by the end of May.

[New&Improved 1,780]

I was in major pain the first 24hrs but luckily was drugged up on IV.. still was sore for a few days just getting in and out of bed you'll start to feel better after a week and within a month you'll be like new...

[New&Improved 1,780]

On 4/30/2020 at 10:56 PM, thenewguy123 said:

I'm a 35 year old male 6'0" tall and starting weight 300. I've struggled all my life trying to lose weight and was eager to get this surgery and start anew. I had my surgery yesterday and am feeling today like I didn't have a good understanding of how intense this recovery was going to be, when I met with the doctor he said how easy someone like me would make it look. I thought it was an in and out easy surgery but I stayed over night and know I'd get dehydrated if it weren't for the IV. Every sip of Water I take hurts with intense gas pain. When does this get better? What should I expect from here? Going to talk to the doctor soon. Trying to stay positive and focus on why I did this.

I'm 35 also started at 322 heaviest pre-op now it's been 8 months 3 weeks since I started my dieting and 6.5 months since surgery and I weighed in 166 this morning it's been amazing the bypass...

[amboyle728 71]

Looking for an update--how are you feeling now?

[thenewguy123 3]

For anyone who may stumble upon my initial thread and be looking for their own encouragement. I had a complete reversal of opinion by day two after surgery. Could easily drink 150-200 ounces a day, eat solid food by day 3 or 4, and have no problem drinking carbonated beverages by before the first week, even with a straw.

I have only had one of my incisions that has ever been tender, and its only when I completed turn my shoulders past 90 degrees. I have not gone back to exercising, but feel like I could have probably performed the majority of a strength training regime after the first week (probably would want to exclude anything that heavily involved your abs directly).

I have been hiking a lot just because there is not much to do during this coronavirus shutdown, but I have not felt the need to constantly walk as others have described.

I know that everyone recovers differently, brings their own preconditions to the surgery, but from the second day on, it has been a cake walk for me. All of my concerns about not being able to drink/get dehydrated were unfounded. I have not pushed myself, but I know that I can chug a bottle of Water at least 60-70% as fast a pre-surgery (if it has been 20-30 minutes or more after eating solid foods). I am not having any bathroom issues, no gas/bloat, no hormone swings (yet), no Hair loss (yet).

[thenewguy123 3]

My biggest issue that I am having, is my weight loss is kind of stalling because I have been eating crappy food like taquitos, enchiladas, pizza, etc. Granted only a slice or small portion, but I got a lot of mental hunger after being on a liquid diet for two weeks that I broke down and satiated.

I also love to drink beer, and have been drinking some non-alcoholic beer which is about half the calories of light beer, but obviously still empty calories.

Down 27 lbs 23 days from start of diet, 16 days from surgery. Right now I am shooting for being down 32 lbs 30 days post surgery as just an off the cuff number. If I assume I can lose 100 lbs in a year, that is less than 1/3 lb per day, and I am assuming the loss will be somewhat logarithmic, maybe a 1 lb/day up front, and 1/10th a lb/day towards the end of the year.

I am guessing that I lost 20 lbs of muscle (another complete guess) since my peak fitness of 185 lbs 12 years ago, that hopefully I can put back on in the next year or two.