Some questions about the foods and vitamins

Hi guys!

I was reading the forum non-stop but still have some questions, so will appreciate if any of you will have time to share. My meeting with the dietician is only at the end if next week, so I thought I could ger some answers and interesting perspective from members.

1) Is there any use of starting to take vitamins and/or supplements before the surgery? I am especially concerned with hair loss, loose skin ( thought about taking collagen to help with that) etc? The blood work I got came ideal, only vitamin D is a bit low, as the winter is upon us. Also some of the vitamins are total gimmick,and wgat I mean by that the form you are using is nit well obsorbed ir is incomoatible with ither minerals in them, counteracts each other. So how do you differenciate? Do you atick by what your surgeon advised you, as some if the vitamins are huge! I am nit sure if I eill be able to always stick bu them

2)I am living in Europe so not easily available with the protein shakes people tend to recommend, like "Premier". I thought about buying a powder and making my own shakes, but most of them seem to be whey powder and I am not diagnosed but after using milk products I sometimes get "dumping like" simptomes, mostly diarrhea, sweatiness, alergy perhaps? so I thought about Vegan protein powders but they are quite high in carbs and fat, a lot of them are rice protein based too. What stats I should look in a protein powder for the optimum results? Maybe you have any brands to advise that could be on amazon?

3)I have watched youtuber "Mini me in TN", she have mentioned that one of the complications after the surgery she got was gall-bladder stones, and later removal of the gall-bladder although she got medication to prevent it. My surgeon did not mention this aspect to me. I am not sure what medication would help with preventing it, and if I should be worried about that at all. Also have not found a lot of information for the cause on the internet yet.

4) If you watch any youtubers on RNY, what are your favorites? Do you think it is a good resource?

5) How soon after the surgery you started working out?

6)Water with electrolites ? Is it good for you?With all of the colourings and sweetners? Is it better option out there, like coconu****er?

Thank you in advance, if you found time to answer at least to one question

I wish I could answer more, but I can only really attest to the gallstones and loose skin/hair loss questions.

Gallstones do happen in individuals who experience extremely rapid weight loss, and there isn't really a conclusive answer on why, but they do. I was put on medication for the first 6 months after surgery to reduce my risk of gallstones. According to my doctor, a person who undergoes WLS and does not take medication has roughly a 30% chance of developing gallstones while someone on medication has a less than 5% chance. So you may still develop gallstones while on medication post WLS, but the chance is significantly reduced.

I don't know if there are any other benefits to starting vitamins before WLS, but if you are hoping to reduce hair loss/excess skin with vitamins, no they are not helpful at all. Vitamins don't prevent hair loss, from what I understand a lack of protein is what causes hair loss. Most people do experience hair loss, I am still experiencing hair loss at my current stage. However, most people also don't have lasting hair loss (I think most hair loss stops by 9 months? Or maybe sooner) and most hair loss isn't significant (ie I haven't heard of balding due to WLS hair loss). But I am going to tentatively say that none of the vitamins you'll be taking will reduce hair loss.

Loss skin, I'm pretty firm on this one, if you loss more than 80 to 100 pounds you're going to have it and you'll notice it. There isn't anything you can do about it, no vitamins you can take, cool sculpting doesn't work, no supplements, work outs, creams, or over the counter treatments. The ONLY thing that will get rid of the excess skin (that you WILL have if you loss 80 to 100 pounds) is skin removal surgery.

Hope it helps! And good luck.

Hairloss is a result of Telogen Effluvium and you're right, vitamins or supplements won't help, although they're still VITAL to someone who's had RNY.

I have hypothyroidysim which prolongs the telophase, so if I wil continue L-thyroxin (levothyroxine) maybe that could help, because Of the thyroid I already don't have a lot that I could loose haha.

Thank you girls for the in depth answers. I appreciate it

1) Is there any use of starting to take vitamins and/or supplements before the surgery? I am especially concerned with hair loss, loose skin ( thought about taking collagen to help with that) etc? The blood work I got came ideal, only vitamin D is a bit low, as the winter is upon us. Also some of the vitamins are total gimmick,and wgat I mean by that the form you are using is nit well obsorbed ir is incomoatible with ither minerals in them, counteracts each other. So how do you differenciate? Do you atick by what your surgeon advised you, as some if the vitamins are huge! I am nit sure if I eill be able to always stick bu them

** I am not sure if starting vitamins prior to surgery will help but I don't think it would cause any issues if you did. Per my surgeon I started my vitamin regime after about a week (once I was able to eat something with them). I don't there really is a way to stop your hair from falling out if it is going to as the others have stated. I started to notice in about month 4 and it seemed better after just a few months. It encouraged me to go with shorter hair that I always wanted though. The new hair grew in fine. My nails seem better/stronger than ever. I had an issue with dry skin but was able to fix that adding in good fat (full fat dairy/nuts/avocado to my diet.**

2)I am living in Europe so not easily available with the protein shakes people tend to recommend, like ?Premier?. I thought about buying a powder and making my own shakes, but most of them seem to be whey powder and I am not diagnosed but after using milk products I sometimes get ?dumping like? simptomes, mostly diarrhea, sweatiness, alergy perhaps? so I thought about Vegan protein powders but they are quite high in carbs and fat, a lot of them are rice protein based too. What stats I should look in a protein powder for the optimum results? Maybe you have any brands to advise that could be on amazon?

**I didn't do protein drinks until about 6 months in and tried different ones. I used the Premier you mentioned mostly.**

3)I have watched youtuber ?Mini me in TN?, she have mentioned that one of the complications after the surgery she got was gall-bladder stones, and later removal of the gall-bladder although she got medication to prevent it. My surgeon did not mention this aspect to me. I am not sure what medication would help with preventing it, and if I should be worried about that at all. Also have not found a lot of information for the cause on the internet yet.

**I was also on a medication for 6 months that is supposed to minimize the gallbladder issues and I still have my gallbladder now.**

4) If you watch any youtubers on RNY, what are your favorites? Do you think it is a good resource?

**I have no****ched any. This site and my local support group (I attended consistently for the first 3 years) were where I got support/encouragement and knowledge.**

5) How soon after the surgery you started working out?

**I started walking as soon as I could in the hospital(helps get that horrible painful gas out) but waited until 6 weeks to start elliptical type workouts.**

6)Water with electrolites ? Is it good for you?With all of the colourings and sweetners? Is it better option out there, like coconu****er?

**I would say any calorie-free fluid is good for you. I usually prefer plain water (aside from my coffee) or plain iced black tea. After surgery it will be important to find what works best for you. Some of us need ice cold water, some room temp., some hot, some need flavorings, but I can't reiterate it enough...find what works for you and SIP SIP SIP (just not surrounding your meals. I do the 30/30 rule.)

Sorry for any typos...I had to answer a few calls and kept coming back.

Thank you for your time! F you don't mind me asking what was the reason for only starting protein shakes so far into your journey? And also what was you most used "meals" in liquid diet, to keep getting the protein?

I was super sick of sweet shakes after a two week pre-op and post-op diet. I did have a Chike high protein iced coffee shake (from amazon) every day for breakfast for about 1.5 years after surgery but I never have shakes anymore.

My post-op diet (every surgeon is different) was 3 days of clear liquids (broth, water) then 7 days of full liquids (protein shakes, sugar-free popsicles, sugar-free jello) and I didn't have a puree phase but I went right to soft food after two weeks. Ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, VERY mashed egg salad, tuna salad. It seems like a hundred years ago now that I can eat anything and everything.

Like others have said, you can't avoid loose skin in many cases. It can depend on the elasticity of your skin and your age and how long you've been obese but I had a truckload of it. No cream will help.

I lost quite a bit of hair in maybe months 3 through 8, but I wasn't bald or anything...it was worth it to be so much healthier in my body!

I lost weight very rapidly (100 lbs in my first 4 months and 4 days) and have never had a gall bladder problem. Some people do, some don't.

Like Jen said, try some different whey protein concentrate powders and see how they treat you! Your nutritionist may have some ideas.

Good luck!

I have contacted my dietologist today and said that I want to be more prepared regarding protein shakes, she said that I should try whey isolate protein first if possible and see if I tolerate it as they are better abosrbed for the body. So rhis week I will order some trial protein powder and will try to see if it is any good for me

I keep forgetting to tell you that I think the person who owns/invented(?) Chike is from my area I guess. One of my buddies at the gym was telling me awhile back that most of the "early morning gym crew" used to drink it daily.

My surgeon isn't a huge fan of protein drinks when we start out. For straight liquid it was broth, SF jello and popsicles but that was only for 2 days I think. Then full liquids and mushy foods pretty quickly after that.