I've used a similar system.

I liked it -- it was good to know how much I burn even just sitting on my butt all day or sleeping.

There is still restriction -- my pouch is nowhere near the size of my old stomach.  But I don't have the malabsorption that I did when I first had my surgery.

Additionally, there are people that continue to experience dumping syndrome or actually develop it later in their path.  So willpower has an additional component when you have that to deter you.


However, in the first 12-18 months, there are many lifestyle changes that do take place -- many of which I don't even think about anymore.  It's second nature for me to pick up this item over that in the grocery store.. for me to eat protein first rather than carbs.. for me to park further away in a parking lot and walk in rather than park in the closest spot possible.  These changes are so ingrained after so long that it would be odd to do anything different -- and so I wouldn't say I "diet" anymore -- I just live how I live.

Yes -- for several reasons.  (andrea's fond of bullet points today)

1)  Certain nutrients are absorbed in certain sections of the intestines.  Just for giggles, let's say vitamin A cause it's alphabetical.  Vitamin A has a pre-cursor called beta-carotene that is ONLY absorbed in the duodenum, which is completely bypassed in RNY and DS folk -- so any supplements in the form of beta-carotene are completely wasted.  Vitamin A in the form of retinyl esthers (palmitate and acetate) are absorbed a bit furter in the jejunum, which is partially bypassed in RNY and is still bypassed in DSers.  The degree of bypassing means that there is still quite a bit of malabsorption of vitamin A -- so we need to really bombard the villi with vitamin A to get the malabsorption covered.

Now, it's not an exact science -- there is some absorption of micronutrients in other parts of the intestines -- but not as much.  We have a fairly good idea where things are absorbed in the majority of peoples.. but there are the few people that confound and confuse -- cause evolution and mutations occur.


2) Regardless of these villi regrowing for calories, the ability to cover for micronutrients will forever be damaged because the body is too busy trying to just compensate with the caloric deficit.  The body prioritizes -- calories are necessary to keep the heart beating and the brain functioning -- so we need those first.  Yeah, nutrients are important -- but we need calories first and so we're going to build up the villi for that purpose and not for the other.



That's why labs and supplements are critical for the rest of your lives postop.

I was diagnosed with hypothyroid AFTER surgery.

It depends on your comfort level.

Some do their own, and it saves a ton of cash.  Others prefer to pay an office fee to have it done for them because they can't do it.

But there's nothing to say it can't be done at home.


Hell, my dog gets b-12 shots -- I'm about to give him his weekly dose right now.

You've seen what you should be on.

Let me share why you should follow those recomendations.


My surgeon's office was one of those that suggested, at first Optisource, then later a Flintstones / Tums combination.

I got pregnant on that combination.  Twice.


The consequences of bad supplementation, and two babies (which, btw, leech you dry before they leech your wallet bare) left me with NO iron stores (ferritin was in the single digits), low serum iron, b12 in critical ranges, and adult-form rickets known as osteomalacia due to low-D and calcium being leeched from my bones to supplement my heart's needs.

Now my D is in excellent shape, my B12 is superb, but I'm still kicking and screaming and clawing my way upwards out of iron-deficiency hell.  I just got my most recent labs back and my ferritin is up to a 16.  Still nowhere where I want it to be (range is 10-200) but it's slowly crawling upwards for the first time in quite some time.


Beyond taking good vitamins, my biggest suggestion is to get your own lab results and put your own eyeballs upon them.  Not only that, but compare them.  What was the lab value from last time and now?  Did it change?  Why did it change?  What did you do differently?  Is it trending up or down?  Should you start to change something before it really changes?  (Which, generally, the answer is yes.  You don't want to treat a deficiency when it becomes a deficiency.. you want to head it off before it gets there.)


You ask what I take now:

3 Proferrin heme iron tablets a day
1 1000mcg b-12
1800 mg calcium citrate
600mg magnesium citrate (high dose for migraine prevention) + C
40,000 IU vitamin D3
400mcg folic acid
super b-complex
25,0000 iu vitamin A
2 multivitamins


I will have to had some K thanks to these lab results -- but I haven't yet.  And it looks like I'll be adding back in some zinc as well (and probably copper).

Click will typically do a freebie if you ask -- tell them I sent ya.

[email protected]

Vitalady does samples for 1.99 each.  It's worth it.
About Time does two samples for 1.99 -- that's WELL worth it.

It's normal.

The fluids used in the hospital are designed to hold fluids.  As an example, women who give birth sometimes come home weighing more after they have the baby than before due to the IV fluids  despite losing the baby weight, the fluids in the delivery, etc.

Honest, give it a few more days, drink plently of clear fluids to flush the sodium from your system, and it will go away.

Only 30% of RNYers dump.

Nope.

eta: Coral calcium is composed primarily of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), with small amounts of magnesium and other trace minerals. Calcium carbonate from coral is similar to calcium carbonate from other sources, with varying amounts of trace minerals.

If you're low on D, then 1000 probably won't be sufficient.  Do you know what your level was?

I say this because the current recommendation is for normies to take 2000 just to maintain their levels.. and that's with no malabsorption.  1000 iu in a malabsorber is very little.

Sounds like it.

The meters aren't the expensive part..  or they don't have to be.  It's the strips.  Get a script and your insurance will likely cover the cost of your testing supplies.

It's managable when you start to figure out what triggers your symptoms.  Are you just hypoglycemic, or are you a reactive hypoglycemic as well?  A journal helps you know what helps you pull out of an episode and what makes one worse.

Pregnancy after RNY is a mind f@ck.

Do I eat and be healthy for the baby?  Do I not eat and stay skinny?  Holy hell, I'm gaining weight, but I'm SUPPOSED to gain weight?  What, the scale is going up?!?  NO!  I want the scale to stay where it is!  I've worked so effing hard to get it to go down for it to go UP now!  Carbs?  I'm supposed to eat carbs?  But I'm not supposed to eat carbs!  I'm supposed to only have protein!  Wait, why am I fainting?  And what's this orange drink thing they want me to drink?