New to OH, WLS, and 20's forum...

Hi all!  I am new to everything...I am 23 yrs old and have a BMI of 41.  I was told in April I needed to have surgery b/c my liver enzymes are out of control.  Since then I've been working overtime to get things together.  I am currently waiting for insurance approval, but since I'm in a time crunch my surgeon went ahead and set a date for me on July 16. My fiance and I have been together for 2 yrs now and are postponing our wedding for a year so that I can get healthy first.  I was just wondering about how long after surgery should you wait before you have sexual relations again?? I've been reading a lot of the posts on this board and wanted to say Congrats to ya'll who are postop and Good Luck to all of ya'll who are still preop!  Rianne

Most docs say as soon as you feel up to doing it to go ahead and do it!! It was about 3 weeks after my surgery that my husband and I resumed having sex. But I should add that in my case, after any of my surgeries (2 c-sections and lap RNY) I have experienced a few weeks of.... ummm... dryness, nothing that a little KY didnt help. Sorry if thats TMI!!!!! I am now 6 weeks post op and all is back to normal. Hope that helps. Good luck with your journey. ~Dana~

Thanks so much!  I appreciate the feedback, and nah....I doubt too much can be TMI anymore considering that someone is about to cut me open and disfigure my stomach!! :-D Congrats on your surgery and being 6 weeks out...I can't wait til I can say the same....how's your loss so far??

Thanks for the congrats. So far I have lost 34 pounds (202 down to 168) with 38 to go to my surgeons goal and 48 to my personal goal.  ~Dana~

AWESOME!!  That is great!  I hope I am that successful 6 weeks out from my date!  I am starting at 232....but have about 100 to go or maybe a lil more.....my personal goal is 112....but we'll see :-) Any tips on foods that have worked for you?  What types of protein sources are you eating/drinking??

My biggest tip is to eat slooowww!!!!!! I am still working on that one and end up with the foamies quite often because I eat too fast. Every surgeon is different on what they recommend but.... tuna salad and egg salad are very good soft foods with protien. I personally love fish so I eat lots of baked salmon (fish is also loaded with protein). As far as protein powder, the only way I can tolerate it is in my coffee (decaff). I just buy the inexpensive stuff from Walmart (Body Fortress Whey [about 12$ for a big jug]). I "like" the chocolate kind- it almost tastes like a hot chocolate. Key word is "almost"!!! Its not great but not too bad either. I usually drink two cups of coffee a day with a scoop of protein in each cup and that gives me 46 grams of protein right there without any food. Every person is different and everyone tolerates different things. One of the easiest foods for me to eat is chicken and many many people cannot tolerate chicken post op. Mostly you will have to learn what works for you. Good luck. ~Dana~

Thanks a bunch....I already drink protein shakes made from that Walmart stuff....have been for a long time now.  I don't like the choc though, the vanilla I can tolerate...and I'll probably buy tons of Carnation Instant Bfast b/c it's yumminess :-) Chicken is practically the only meat I eat anyways, so I'm hoping that I don't have any problems with it post op.  I checked out the recipe forum last night and it had so many yummy things that I'm really looking forward to making :-) Thanks! Rianne