Looking for some deep down honesty and some hindsight as foresight

My first question is what do you feel is a downside to your surgery or what has been an unexpected downside to your weight loss?

Second question: What do you wish you would have known before your surgery that you know now?

The downside I would say are the normal DS poos in the mornings.  I get up early so I'm not sharing the bathroom with my hubby and I courtesy flush, run the fan and spray to excess in the bathroom downstairs once I'm up. Once the DS poos in the morning are done I'm usually good until the next morning. I wouldn't feel comfortable traveling with extended family or friends if I had to share tight living space or only one bathroom. I'm hoping this gets better the further post-op I get. I'm 6 years post-op.

--g

Do you eat carbs or fats that would account for the poop smell? Have you found changing things on your diet helps?

The downside for me is the DS bathroom stench, and the fact that I am one of those people that needs to go 3-4 times in the mornings.  So I set my alarm 2 hours before I need to go some where.  It takes time for it all to happen - it can't be rushed either. 

I also have to go immediately after waking.  I might be able to put the water in the coffee maker before I need to head to the bathroom quickly.

There has been no downside to the weight loss.  I got rid of my diabetes, which is worth gold to me.  I would tolerate much worse just for that benefit.  I also got rid of the sleep apnea, and I don't snore any more.  I'm not on any meds now.  

Do carbs or fats effect the poop smell? Does changing your diet help?

Yes and no.  Not eating carbs helps, in that there is a lot less gas and diarrhea.  It doesn't smell like something crawled up inside of me and died if I stay away from carbs.  But I was never a big carb eater anyway.

The stench is going to be there no matter what.  Your body gets any where from 50 cc to 150cc of gut that has the bile/acids you need to break down/digest your food.  That isn't a lot of tubing for that to happen in, considering it used to be mixed with bile/acids all the way through your guts.  So there is a lot of food that isn't totally absorbed/digested coming out the other end.  That's the magic that lets us eat 1,000 calories but only have to count roughly 550 of those calories.  The less magical and sparkly side to this is roughly 450 calories of food is coming out the other end partially digested - and that is going to smell bad.  No way around that.

If you have ever had a dog, and fed it Alpo dog food, you would notice that dog pooping several times a day and it stinks pretty bad.  Start feeing that dog Innova or Orijen dog food, and they poop once a day, and it hardly smells.  That's because the dog's body is able to digest all the nutrients in that dog food so they have practically no nutrients in the fecal matter.  The same with us.  Before surgery, we were digesting and absorbing all the nutrients.  Now, we are digesting about half.  We went from an Innova poop to an Alpo poop.

Downsides: the planning of my life!! I can't be spontaneous anymore-- When I have to go to the bathroom, I have to go right then. When I need to eat, I need to eat and it can't be just anything. I can't just run by McDonald's and I can't wait a long time. I can't drink while I eat or I'll puke. I have to have coffee in the morning to go in my protein shake. Life must be carefully planned and orchestrated. I miss being able to just eat whatever's available or nothing at all. I'm pretty high maintenance now.

The gas is definitely an impact on my husband especially. I could control it more, but (honestly) I don't so he gets the brunt of it. ;)

What I wish I had known: That I'd still not be happy with my body. I see now why "skinny girls" still think they're fat. I have rolls and saggy skin. My boobs are a mess. Maybe plastic surgery would make it better, but probably not make it go away completely. I think it's psychological rather than physical. Deep-seated feelings don't just go away. I think I look pretty good in the right clothes, but naked I'm a hot mess!!

AND

WLS made me want to change everything else in my life too. It set off a serious mid-life crisis for me. I got a tattoo, quit my job.... it gave me the courage to admit to myself everything that was making me unhappy and try to change it all.

*** Disclaimer: this makes it sound like I have way more negatives than positives. That is so not true. The positives WAY outweigh the negatives (pun intended). I love that my weight doesn't define my self image anymore!! I love being a "normal" size and not being prejudged. I love my children are proud of me. I love sitting on my husband's lap. I love shopping in any store. I love my DS!

I never realized it till your comment.  I have to plan everything out now also.  

I agree that the bathroom stench is the one serious downside - however the upside to that is that it usually only occurs first thing in the morning and that's it.  It does prevent me from sharing hotel rooms and other tiny accommodations with anyone except for those who love me unconditionally.  That being said - everybody's **** stinks, right?  I consider it a reasonable tradeoff, and always have the most powerful exhaust fan possible.

My downside to losing my weight is that my post-op body is not an attractive one.  I consider myself lucky, because it could be worse, but I will never be a hard-body without some significant plastic surgery.

The only thing I wish I'd known before surgery was how little my surgeon really understood about the nutritional needs for the typical DSer.  She and her nut staff bundled us in with the other wls patients.   My D and A levels took a deep dive and it took me over a year to bring them back up.  I think pre-ops are well informed if they take the time to learn on their own from those of us who have BTDT, but the surgical staff of these's docs still disappoint me with their refusal to understand the distinct differences we have with our needs.