Upcoming VSG on 12/14! (Sounding board..questions at the bottom)

Hello,

I am brand new to this site. I have a couple of questions that I would love answered from people that are in separate areas of their WLS journey.

Some background: I am a 27 year old high school English teacher. I have been obese nearly my entire life. Last year, I was diagnosed with Type2 and my doctor suggested WLS. After several months of "trying to do it on my own" I went to a seminar. I have now completed the 6 months of prereqs by my insurance company and my surgery is finally scheduled for next month!!

I'm very thankful to be able to take recovery time, as we don't return from Christmas brea****il 1/3.

To be honest, the entire six months I was scared of getting approved. I don't know why, I'm ready for this change. I even had about 2 weeks where I was really bad, and had lots of fatty foods and carbs. When I finally got approved a couple weeks ago, I couldn't stop sobbing from happiness. Human beings are weird. I think I went through a grieving process sort of... I imagine this will be worse after surgery. Luckily, I have an excellent therapist.

My highest weight ever was last year, 398. I was 378 when I decided to have surgery, and I am sitting at 364 right now. I am 5'5.

Until November 30th, I am on a 1400 calorie low-carb diet with 64 oz water daily. From 11/30-12/7, I am to have a protein shake for breakfast, and 4 oz. of lean meat with 1 cup of veg for lunch and dinner. From 12/7-12/12, I am to drink 4 shakes a day with as many clear liquids as I can drink. The day before surgery, I am to have nothing but clear liquids and nothing after 10 p.m.

Liquids:3-5 days post op

Purees: up to three weeks

Soft foods:up to 8 weeks

I imagine that I will lose at least 15 to 20 lb during the two weeks preop alone.

Some questions!! (Finally, I know!)

1. What protein powders do you recommend? My surgical team recommended Bariatric Advantage, but they are costly and I would need to ship them. They gave me protein, sugar, and total carb requirements and said that as long as it met these requirements I could use it. Does anyone use protein powders for Soups?
2. Did anyone use an abdominal binder? Someone mentioned that this may make me more comfortable after surgery.
3. My doctor said that compression garments will help with circulation and make me feel more comfortable under my clothing after I have more excess skin. Does anyone have a brand that they swear by?
4. What tips or suggestions do you have? I know that everyone is different.
5. When were you comfortable eating solid food? A friend that had it said after a few months, she could eat about 3 oz. Shredded chicken or fish and a bite or two of veggies per meal. Is this about normal? I ran across one horror story online where the girl said that she couldn't eat anything at all for months and that scares me.

I would love to hear from individuals who had a BMI over 40 especially!!

Is there anyone more than 7 or 8 years post op? Long term suggestions?

THANKS!

Welcome! Answering your questions below:

1. I used Unjury powder for shakes and the unflavored powder to mix into soups. Now I use the pre-mixed Premier Protein. There is a good chance that you will use one before surgery and a different one after because you all of a sudden hate it. Quality protein powder isn't cheap, so you'll want to be prepared for that.
2. I did not use a binder and didn't feel like I needed to. My pain was very minimal.
3. You will need to try on compression garments. I wore the brand from Dress Barn for many post-op, but now rarely wear any.
4. Be prepared to be an emotional wreck for a few weeks post surgery. The hormone dump from fat loss + the fact you had anesthesia is no joke. No one warned me of that. Also; prioritize protein and be ready for months of nothing but. You don't need to add back in veggies/fruit/carbs until you're maintaining. Don't make what society thinks is 'healthy eating' your goal.
5. I was eating dense proteins comfortably before 3 months out. At first, you can only eat about 1oz.

Thank you! I just ordered a sample of the unjury powders! :-)

Everyone says the pain is minimal, that makes me feel much more relaxed. Hopefully I will also have minimal pain. My two young nephews live with me (one is 11 months) so I know he's going to be upset for a couple of weeks when I'm not picking him up as much. :-/

The pain was so far down the priority list of things I had to think about. The mental aspect of learning to eat a whole new way was much greater stress.

First, congratulations on your surgery date. It's great that you're taking action now, at 27. I wish I could have done it years ago when I was younger.... would have saved me from so much pain.

In regard to protein powders, I get vanilla and chocolate from GNC....Power Maxx. They will give you samples to try out. Then I add sugar free flavored syrups. Torani and Davinci ordered from Amazon. You might was to check out Eggface's site. She has recipes for protein drinks and protein ice cream. (Also has recipes for puréed and soft food phases.)

Onward and downward!

Welcome! I had the gastric bypass six months ago, best decision ever. I'm 23 and started with a BMI of 48, down 125 pounds. Congrats on starting your own journey.

1. I used Unjury during my pre-op diet and liked it. Had it after my surgery and HATED it. My go to was syntrax fruit flavors. You can get a sample pack full of different flavors. I like them because they mix well with water, the sweet chocolate drinks were too heavy for me right after surgery. I still like syntrax, but I use Unjury Chocolate again. I mix it with my coffee. Same with premier ready made Carmel. It's a great creamer. Unjury also makes a protein chicken powder, but I would skip it and just drink chicken bone broth.
2. I bought a binder because I had heard other people used them. I used it once during the day, and a couple of times while I was sleeping. It made side sleeping more bearable, but I probably wouldn't buy it again if I could do it over.
3. I haven't gotten to the stage where I need compression garments yet. Maybe hold off?
4. My "tip" is to obey the rules. Seriously, I'm a newbie but good grief I get sooo annoyed when I hear about people fresh out of surgery just trying a "bite" of bread or a "taste" of chocolate. Just, no. We don't need that. We need to stop justifying our addictions. Follow your plan,be strict. You will still lose weight if you eat small amounts of crap, but your surgery is so so much more effective you eat well. Also you know, if you eat off plan before your stomach is healed you risk killing yourself. SMH.
5. Every person progresses differently. I had a complication that put me on liquids for an additional month. Real talk, I didn't think the liqued stage was all that bad. I liked the simplicity of it. But if I remember correctly my surgeons plan goes 1 week clear liquids, 2 weeks full liquids, 2 weeks puréed, 2-4 weeks soft solids, solids. Enjoy the liqued stage. It's easy and you lose a ton, lol.

I also find it annoying when I see a post with someone 3 weeks post-op who had a slice of pizza. I want this to work, I want to use it to make my life better. Plus, it's not like we can never eat again.

I'm not judging... Obviously I have problems with food or I wouldn't have a BMI of 60. People are just people, afterall. I just think if you don't follow the plan then you are sabotaging yourself. I will wholeheartedly following all of my surgeons instructions. :-)

Thank you for the response!

For sure. I get making mistakes, I just get frustrated when people refuse to own up to them or make excuses for their poor choices. I saw someone say that they had to eat the pizza,crust and all, because their friends wouldn't understand. That makes me angry, like, your friends didn't not make you eat the pizza. I know it's weird to refuse food, but no one can make you eat something you don't want to. Haha wow sorry for that rant!

For real though, you'll do great. :)

Congratulations on your surgery date and decision. You are so wise to take this on at your young age. I allowed myself to stay morbidly obese for over 30 years ( BMI 53) and developed many of the typical co-morbidities that come with it. (cancer, hypertension, knees crumbling,etc.) I had my surgery 10 weeks ago and the pain for me was very minimal. Gas was more my issue, but after 2 weeks was so much improved. If you follow your program you will be successful. Logging all your intake on a calorie counting app is so helpful to keep you on track and to maintain and awareness of just how much you are eating and drinking. While it takes time to develop that habit it is well worth the effort. Many people on this site use My fitness pal. There are many free ones to chose from. I use one called Fat Secret. For protein powder I used a GNC brand vanilla that had only 90 cals (cannot remember the exact name) a serving, for which I used for shakes. I use Isopure unflavored for use in soups. There are some liquid pre-made shakes like Priemer but I got really sick of them after 3 weeks and just could not drink them anymore. Do not order to much of any one thing as your tastes may change. My journey is new but already I see the benefit and have so much more mobility. I was permitted to start soft solids at 3 weeks post op and find I need to layer my protein at meals to meet my surgical teams requirements. I have never used compression garments and never felt like I needed to. That may be an individual preference. I wear scrubs for work. Logging on to this website frequently has been so helpful for me as so many have common issues and it is reassuring to see that your own experience is not unique. Good Luck in your journey!!

age 61 HWE 330 SW 272 VSG 9/19/2017 CW 244 GW 160

Hi and welcome! Just FYI, there is a forum for those who started with BMI over 50 that might be useful for you - http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/bmi_over_50/

First off - don't bet on losing any certain amount of weight during any specific amount of time/phase of diet. It's a really good way to end up feeling inadequate. Sure, you might lose that much, but you also might not. Our bodies are weird things that rarely do what we want them to!

1. I have two favorites. I use Optimum Nutrition Double Rich Chocolate as my go to and I mix it with unsweetened original almond milk in a blender bottle. I also toss in a half scoop of Syntrax Mint Cookie since it's super tasty :) I order these all from Amazon. I've never used any of the soup protein powders. I got a thing of unflavored from Unjury but never used it. I would definitely caution not to invest too much in shakes now because your tastes might change post-op. Mine didn't, but many do! So maybe it's best just to acquire lots of sample packets now so you can experiment with them post-op. Nashua Nutrition sells lots of sample packets.

2. I did not use an abdominal binder, nor did my surgeon recommend one to me. My pain was very minimal. So I'm not sure what the use would have been.

3. Compression garments.. this is an amusing question for me right now because I'm recovering from a leg lift (reconstructive plastic surgery) and feel like I've been in head to toe compression since my first reconstructive surgery in June! :D But that's not the type you're talking about :) My favorite brands pre-reconstruction were Bali and Maidenform. However, for exercise, I bought a lot of compression clothing specifically made for exercise - mostly from Under Armour. Other brands have good exercise compression gear too, though. It can be be pricey, most of my post-op wardrobe money has gone to high quality exercise clothing.

4. Take the time now to find a therapist you click with. Surgery operates on our stomachs not on our brains and our brains are what made us obese. (Our brains are responsible for a lot of stuff that our bodies do, this is one of them.) Any mental work you can do will help you to make your dietary changes true lifestyle changes that will last forever. Otherwise, you'll just go back to old habits eventually and regain the weight. Surgery is not a magic fix and it's possible to eat around any surgery once fully healed. (For example, I could easily eat a pint of ice cream a day and no surgery in the world would help me keep the weight off under those cir****tances.) Fix your brain and use the surgery as a tool to help.

4a. Diet is where it's at for weight loss, but exercise is awesome and important for many aspects of health. Including avoidance of sarcopenia. Take the time to find an exercise you actually enjoy and do it on a regular basis. Your body (and brain) will thank you for it as you age.

5. My diet progression was 2 weeks liquids, 2 weeks purees, and 2 weeks soft solids. So I started "normal" solids at 6 weeks post-op. The only time I remember being uncomfortable with solid food was when I ate salmon that was a bit too dry (AVOID dry food. Moisture is your friend.). I still can't eat falafel which makes me sad. And around 3 months post-op I started having this throat clenchy thing which caused solid food to be a no go - it was resolved with a trip to my surgeon, a prescription for 10 days of some medication I can't recall, and reverting my diet to liquids for 3 days, pureeds for 3 days, softs for 3 days, and then back to normal. I often forget about this when people ask if I had complications because it seems like so long ago and such a minor issue in the scheme of things!

So my main advice is address your mental health like your life depends on it. Stick around OH - don't be one of the people who have success, get busy with life, and then come back 2 years later because they've gained 100 pounds back. Find a way to stay accountable. Track your intake with MyFitnessPal if that's your way. Weight daily if that's what does it for you. Figure out how to maintain your awareness of your body, your weight, and what you put into your mouth. Start building Team Acedding27 because a strong support network will help. This is not an easy process. Contrary to popular belief WLS is not "the easy way out" because losing weight, and then keeping it off, is really, really hard regardless of how you do it.

Oh... and start saving now for reconstructive plastic surgery :P