I am assuming you are having a standard DS. 2 anastomosis.

Doctors frequently give everyone the same information, no matter what the surgery. They are lazy. Most of the long term successful DSers have learned how to eat and stay healthy from their peers. Back when I had my surgery a lot of doctors were telling us to take 2 Flintstones every day and we would be fine. Bottom line, surgeons are cutters. They know how to do the operation. They don't actually know much about nutrition or supplementation.

A healthy lifestyle for a DSer does not look like a standard diet. And then, all DSers are not the same either. The results of the DS are a Bell Curve. Some people get to live the dream and eat protein plus whatever for the rest of their lives. Some still have to be careful or they will gain weight. No one can tell you where you will be on the curve. If you are having the DS it's a pretty good bet you already know you are metabolically challenged and diets do not work for you. And if they do the weight loss is not sustainable long term. There is no surgery out there that works better than the DS but it is still work!

I think living with the DS is easy. But in the beginning, it sort of takes over your life. You will move forward and it will become automatic. Protein first will be for the rest of your life. Period. Some people need more than 100gr per day. And sometimes it changes when you are years postop and you lose some of your malabsorbtion. I started at 80gr per day, moved up to 100, and now I am back at around 80. Everything is all about performance over time. You won't get sick and die if you miss a dose now and then or fail to get your protein every day. But you will get sick if you screw up all the time!

After you heal you are in your fast loss phase and that is what you need to do. Lose weight. Every carb you don't eat is a personal victory. You won't have room for much besides protein. You eat protein plus low carb veggies. You can probably fit in your meat plus a couple bites of something like green beans. Breakfast will be eggs with cheese. In the beginning many don't tolerate a lot of fat but keep trying. Butter, cream, and cheese make our standard diet easier to live with. Fat is sort of like free food. Take advantage of it. So, high protein, low carb/sugar, and moderate to high fat. You no longer need to worry about cholesterol either. A lot of us have LOW cholesterol.

After you lose the weight... Go 10% under your goal. Why? Because almost all of us have some regain or Bounceback when we are done with the fast weightloss. So here you sit after losing all your weight plus 10% more for good measure. What now. Eat your protein, low carb veggies, and start adding in a few carbs. Have a piece of fruit or some oatmeal. Weigh every day and if you are over your magic number for 3 days in a row you go back to strict low carb till it's gone. If you are still losing, add in a few more carbs. Have toast with your eggs. It will take some time to figure out how many carbs YOU can eat!

Best of luck to you!

Hi Sandra!

I'm ten years out, and calcium seems to be the bugaboo for me this far out. I usually pull myself back on track with the vites - liquid calcium works wonders- and maintain my weight between 135 and 145 still within chart weight for me.

My doctor really wants me to hang on to a little extra, as I have had sudden drops in the past, so it's within range for me.

Hi there,

7 years out. First on cost, While I do citrical max (6 pills a day) when I need to get more calcium and there haven't been any BOGO at the local CVS or Walgreens they always have their house brands on sale and those worked OK for me too. The dose is slightly higher for the citrical but around 1500 mg split into 3 doses works for me.

I get my A, D, E, and K from amazon, dry versions (no gel caps) from biotech. The D will be the most expensive (I do 50k once a day and another 50k every other day).

I only started the E after 6 years out and I sometimes wonder about needing the K but better safe than to let it get out of hand.

I started a low dose of Zinc / copper about 2 years in.

"One a day" ( 2 per day) multi vitamin (sales, sales, sales). I switched from Centrum and Kirkland multi's (best price per tablet for me is kirkland from Amazon) but I switched because I needed one without potassium (go too high).

I take Vit C and K2 but I consider those expendable if finances are really tight.

I think for A, E, and K you might find veggie caps and some lower doses cheaper than biotech. Just keep an eye on the labs. (palmitate as the source for the vitamin A)

I hope that helps. Reach out with any other questions. No experience with Medicaid but while I haven't found a way to get insurance to pay for my vits if you can get a doc to write a prescription they migh cover the costs. ??

{ete

So, nobody but your surgeon can really say. You should also look at the other options and compare like VSG unless there are some other things like diabetes going on too.

For myself, it was my up and down weight loss history that helped form my decision.

I had lost weight plenty of times, exercise, hi protein, etc but I always gained back more than I lost so I knew that I needed something that would continue to help me after I lost the weight. And it has, going on 7 years now. 217 this past weigh in down from 464.

It might be that you just need that first impetus to lose your weight and then you will be able to keep it off.

I'm not sure what you know about the DS but it consists of 2 parts, A VSG for initial restriction and the switch part that provides a level of malabsorption. The VSG can stretch a little over time, and of course you can eat around it of you really want to. The switch is more of a constant, hence the life long vitamins. Still possible to overcome it or not have a good outcome but percentages are very small.

What I might suggest is to talk to a Doc that does the DS and consider doing the first step ( the VSG ) and then doing the 2nd step (the switch) separately. Some of us that were very obese faced the possibility of our surgeons doing the procedure in 2 different surgeries because they thought it might be too dangerous. In those cases the VSG is used for initial weight loss and health improvement making it possible to do the 2nd step.

There are also people for whom the VSG just didn't work that go the DS route even though that wasn't their original intent.

I don't think you are too small for the DS ( or maybe the SADI version ) but it is a big commitment and you should game out the alternatives, pros and cons.

Good luck, let us know what you are thinking after all this.

Pete

I TRIED A BATCH AFTER MY SLEEVE AND IT GAVE ME RASHES IN THE AREA I APPLIED THEM TOO..

No Bueno!