Soon to be RNY guy
DerekG79
Posts: 116 Member
So guys. I am having RNY sometime in February. I have my preop class on Jan. 30. I am so excited about this. I need all the support I can get. How did you guys prepare for the surgery? What did you use for your liqud diet and what should I be buying now to get ready?
Thanks in advance,
Derek
Thanks in advance,
Derek
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Replies
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Hi Derek and welcome to the group! I had my first consult Apr, 2012 and my RNY Sep, 2012. During that time I focused on making the changes I needed to post op. So, I gave up caffeine, started using little plates and little utensils, bought a food scale, worked on not drinking 30 minutes before or after meals and chewing slowly. As for shakes, my bariatric center has individual packets so I bought the variety box and figured out which ones I liked the most and then got bigger containers of the ones I realy like. Now that I am this far out I still occasionally have syntrax nectar shakes and I have chocolate and unflavored to mix into pudding and the like just for an extra boost.
Read your binder, follow the rules and you will do fine!!
This was the best decision I have ever made in my lifel0 -
Im still in my 6 month pre diet for insurance approval but they already have me doing the liquid diet every other week. This is my second week trying it and believe me it is alot harder than you think it will be! I had no idea! Im so glad Im doing this early to practice because my first week I cheated everyday (Christmas week). I tried all sorts of plant protein based powders but in the end it came down to cost so chose the Optimum Natural Whey Isolate Protein Powder in Vanilla and Chocolate. Chocolate I can do on its own but Vanilla I get bored of so I either will add some cinnamon or a half (bc a whole is too much) packet of a flavored crystal light. For my 'other' liquid I got 2 brands of low sodium chicken broth (for slight flavor variety) and a bunch of sugar free jello. The broth and jello have been life savers. Broth feels like a complete meal since you have all the different savory flavors and jello gives you that different texture besides liquid. The texture of drinking liquid constantly gets very old very fast! That was another weird feeling/surprise.
This is my second week trying and so far I have had 2 complete successful days without cheating! Word of advise, if you are going out bring a shake with you! Drink it in the car so that you arent tempted to stop for fast food or starving. And remember to drink all your liquid! Because I forgot to take a multivitamin and then wasnt drinking all the advised liquid so I actually got REALLY bad cramps in my legs due to the dehydration. Completely freaked me out and hurt so much I cried. Because its such a drastic change from your normal diet, you need to follow the instructions or else there will be health consequences.
Hope this helped!0 -
The biggest thing I did to prepare for surgery was make sure I was getting all 64oz of water in! I did great before the surgery but now some days I have a hard time. The other thing I wish I concentrated more on was chewing my food more. Once you have the surgery if you don't chew the food enough it gets stuck and believe me when I say it is painful!!
The protein shakes I liked the best for the before/after liquid diet was by Unjury (www.unjury.com) the chocolate and the chicken soup are really good! After surgery the vanilla would make me gag but they have a great return policy and I was able to send back the vanilla (even though it was already opened!) and exchanged it for an unflavored which is good to put in your own soup or yogurt or anything you can think of really!0 -
4.5 years out and I can still remember the thrill I had when I got a date for my surgery. Congratulations for being this close! My .02 is this:
Focus now on not drinking 30 minutes before and after meals :drinker:
Focus a lot, not just say you do it, on sipping water. You will no longer be able to say, "Aw, crap. It's 4:30pm and I need 40 more ounces guess I'll glug down a liter!" Never again. And, I mean, never again will you glug down anything without being very sorry you did it :noway: SIP now, so you can get a handle on just how hard it is to get 64oz of water in when you have time restrictions around meals and you cannot chug it!
Make the required food changes now. Look into lean protiens, focus on getting protien first and filling in the blanks with veggies and smallest portions of starch. You will be grateful you figured out what this means when you are a year or so out and you are able to eat pretty much anything.... Get together a list now of go-to foods!
LISTEN. Anyone can fill your ears with the best advice and textbook knowledge....... but truly listen. From RNY patients you will hear the things you cannot learn without having had surgery. The things your surgeon cannot tell you, the nutritionist cannot tell you... it's just things we have picked up along the way
Best of luck to you :flowerforyou:0 -
Thanks guys. Looking forward to being active here.0
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3 years out and every morning I get up and make 64 oz of Unjury protein drink. (4 scoops at 20 gms per scoop). Divide it into thermal containers ( love insulated camel back) put them in a cooler and drink through out day. Adding more water to each portion to meek drink thinner and more refreshing. I generally eat two to 3 small meals ( 1 cup or less ) volume each day. But if I do not get in the meals then I do a green protein shake ( kale/spinach, beets, carrots ect ) to Malle sure I get 100 gms of protein and my 64 oz of liquid.
Meals are primarily fish, chicken, green vegetable. My treat for the day before bed is a half cup cereal and milk or one piece of good bread toasted really hard and dry like a cracker with PB&J. I still can not do soft squishy bread or buns.
YOU WILL WORK IT OUT. and it will make a huge positive change in your life0 -
Welcome! I just had my surgery on December 2nd and I'm feeling great. I reached a milestone of 50# lost today since surgery and the two weeks of liquid dieting before. Everyone has you on the right track. I gave up caffeine (I was a huge coffee drinker) and pop. I found Unjury (I liked the chocolate) to be the best option. I bought a shake bottle and mixed with skim milk for 28g of protein. I also got the Unjury chicken flavor (don't laugh) when I needed something hot it worked great got me through Thanksgiving. I will also use Muscle Milk, really like the flavor, just grab a premade one when I'm in a hurry.
Good Luck to you. Its the best decision you will ever make!0 -
i do have to try out some of this unjury. Where is the best place to buy it?0
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i do have to try out some of this unjury. Where is the best place to buy it?
www.unjury.com
Is where I got mine and the sample pack gives you 2 packs of each flavor so you can see if you like/tolerate it before you go and buy a big amount of it!0 -
Hi Derek,
Congrats on your decision and welcome. I'm Gerri, I had a sleeve done on 10/30/13. I liked the Unjury chocolate and the Syntrax chocolate and cappuccino (ordered from Vitacost.com). Sample anything your center gives you to see what you like.
Agreed that stopping fluids with meals is the hardest.
Good luck on your journey and welcome.0
