Scarlett Martinelli Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 So I did a search and found nothing related to my issue.... I had gastric bypass about 8 years ago and lost over 100 pounds. Long story short I have another 10 or 15 pounds I would like to lose. A Paleo-type eating plan makes sense to me, refined carbs cause me all kinds of problems and I know I feel tons better when I eliminate them. My question is about portion sizes. There is no way I can eat enough to satisfy my nutrition requirements with 3 or even 4 meals a day when I can only hold less then 3/4 of a cup of food in one meal. Right now I supplement my meals with one or two protien shakes every day to get in at least 80 grams of protein. Also, I have an issue with my stoma, the man-made muscle at the top of my stomach pouch is only about 4 mm wide, all meats and coarse vegetables need to be minced in order for me to be able to swallow them. So do you think this is doable? Is there such a thing as an acceptable protein drink for supplementation? Nevertheless I am starting this program on Monday, any ideas and advice are welcome! ~Scarlett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted September 21, 2012 Moderators Share Posted September 21, 2012 Hi Scarlett, Welcome! I have no experience with gastric bypass, but here are a few thoughts... The limitations imposed by your surgery are severe. Eating only 3/4 of a cup at a time would require you to eat a lot of meals. I would experiment with turning meals into a puree in a food processor. I do that with cauliflower, broccoli stems, and carrots all the time, but I suppose you could include meat and other veggies. We typically say that you are not supposed to drink your meals because our bodies process liquid food differently than solids, but your case may be an exception. No protein powders are acceptable during a Whole30 because it is a real food diet and protein powders are manufactured food. An issue for you in attempting a Whole30 would be to eat a good variety of foods and to not depend on just a few old standbys. Nature presents us with a great variety of foods and our bodies need a great variety of nutrients to thrive. And the Whole30 is really about thriving and not just getting by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Martinelli Posted September 22, 2012 Author Share Posted September 22, 2012 Thanks for your reply. I am weighing the idea of pureeing most of my food, but honestly that just sounds.... gross. I already finely chop most meats. But I bet with some planning I can do alittle blending and make this work. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Martinelli Posted October 4, 2012 Author Share Posted October 4, 2012 Hi there.... Thank you Tom for your reply... I just wanted to pop in and say I have been following the plan for 6 days now, eating 5 times a day and so far I am doing pretty well. My sweet cravings are almost gone, except for that 4 pm moment of weakness, but fortunately I am in the car sitting in traffic and by the time I get home its pretty much passed. I didnt weigh myself, and I wont till the end of the 30 days, but my pants feel looser and I have tons of energy. Even if thats all I get from the experience, I'll be happy. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chyara Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I am a 7yr RnY PostOp too. I wouldn't do the pureés as such, from personal experience, they Run straight through. Though I do enjoy a Green Smoothie once in awhile. Try a small one and see. Watch the fruit intake.. Your Experience May be Different then Mine. YMMV... We RnYer's are a special case. We don't absorb all that we eat. We just don't... though after so long our bowels find new ways to absorb.. Usually I've heard its the sensitivity to Sugars and not the Vitamins, Protein, Minerals that we would wish. Due to this issue, i will be using Protein Shakes [i've just purchased the Mark Sisson Primal Fuel, i figure it should be decent.] Protein shakes are used by Us RnYer's not just for 'food'.. PreDigested Protein shakes can aid in our healing properly. I'm not a Doctor... But We aren't like normal folks... We have little to no Stomach acid.. what little we do have doesn't meetup with food until the intestinal tract. We have Achlorhydria [hypochlorhydria] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achlorhydria I have heard of another PostOp being successful with Paleo.. message me and i will send you to her facebook page. It would be great to have another person who can related to our needs... We are different.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacey Freedman Brewer Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 I am 13 years post op RNY. I was using Protein shakes. However, they did not offer me as much nutrition as I once thought. I recently saw my hematologist, who treats me for anemia when my iron gets real low. He said, the portion of the intestine being bypassed is where all that liquid would be absorbed and most of the nutrients with it. He told me, you can do it if you want. But, it is not going to offer me any real supplementation. I did it for a long time and my numbers did not change that much at all! So, I think there is some accuracy to what he says. I have an over abundance of stomach acid - the opposite of what you describe. I have had ulcers and other issues with it as well. Come to find out that most of that was caused by my inability to tolerate grains. I hope to find with the Whole30 that I can eat a healthy diet and maybe get rid of the daily acid pills. I also became hypothyroid, which is common with RNY as well. I hope that it reverses itself as my Nutritionist says it can. I am only on day 2 of the 30. After lunch, I feel miserable. I am just so full. I am going to back off on the portions (I can't finish them anyway). If I have to spread it out, fine. I am just not hungry at all. I love my coffee and don't like it without cream and sugar. So, two days without it has been torture. I tried an alternative creamer made of almonds and cashews. EPIC FAIL! I have a TOTAL aversion to coconut and everything made from it. So, I guess I am off coffee for a while. I guess that's not a bad thing. Pray I make it 30 days. I already feeling the resolve slipping away. My husband is working it with me. I am relying on him to help me through it! Whew... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb0426 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Welcome! I am almost 9 years post RNY and I have found this way of eating the closest to what was prescribed to me after surgery. The feeling of fullness you describe was the same thing as I experienced during my first whole30. I am long past the days of feeling full as a result of eating more than 1/2 a cup of food. I found around day 11 that I tolerated my meals much better. I love my coffee too, and was a half n half girl. I am fortunate that I love my whipped coconut cream, but do also have a cup of black every day too. I look forward to your results! Are you keeping a log? Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krista Porter Agocs Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Hi there. I am 12year post RNY and I've been having a problem with edema in my legs recently. My stomach stretched back pretty quickly after surgery so I have no intake limitations (meaning, I can still eat a LOT). I am also hypothyroid and have been having a lot of extreme lethargy lately and no matter what I do I cannot lose weight! To put this in perspective, my husband and I started CrossFitting in January and eating Paleo at the same time. I've also completed a Whole30+ during that time. Despite months of clean eating and intense exercise I have only lost 10 pounds. So, the lethargy combined with inability to lose weight plus the edema seemed to mean something serious was going on with my thyroid. I went and had blood tests last Friday. Got my blood tests back yesterday. My thyroid is "slightly" elevated so I'm not really sure what that means, but my Doc doesn't feel it's necessary to increase my dose (for the record, I disagree and plan to see an actual endocrinologist in the near future). She thinks the problem seems to be that my protein levels are low. I already know that I have to eat more protein than normal because of the bypass. But, seriously, I feel like all I do is eat protein!. How can I possibly eat more??! And what amount do I need to increase it to to bring my blood work back into the normal range? The easiest thing to do would be to drink a protein shake, but the good stuff is all Whey protein and filled with artificial sweeteners. I'm supposed to go back in 3 weeks to have my blood retested. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions for me? I mean, how do I determine how much of the protein I'm eating is actually absorbed? I. Am. So. Frustrated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted May 1, 2013 Moderators Share Posted May 1, 2013 Hi there. I am 12year post RNY and I've been having a problem with edema in my legs recently. My stomach stretched back pretty quickly after surgery so I have no intake limitations (meaning, I can still eat a LOT). I am also hypothyroid and have been having a lot of extreme lethargy lately and no matter what I do I cannot lose weight! To put this in perspective, my husband and I started CrossFitting in January and eating Paleo at the same time. I've also completed a Whole30+ during that time. Despite months of clean eating and intense exercise I have only lost 10 pounds. So you have lost an average of 2.5 pounds per month. That is better than I did when I adopted the Whole30 while doing intense CrossFit. I lost 2 pounds per month and was happy about it because I had been stuck for several years not losing anything. I kept losing 2 pounds per month for 15 months until I reached my goal weight and, without me doing anything differently, I quit losing weight. Maybe you need to adjust your expectations about weight loss. And on the topic of intense exercise... sometimes toning down the intensity can improve weight loss. Going hard too much sends your body into fat-saving mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krista Porter Agocs Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I appreciate your input on the weight loss, Tom, but I'd really like someone to chime in on how I can increase my protein absorption without gorging myself every day or having to succumb to using a protein shake. Clearly those of us how have had bypass surgery have malabsorption issues so my post here was hoping that maybe someone else has run into this problem and could guide me how to correct it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teriza Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 I am also a RNY Post Op. We do have to concern ourselves with our malabsorption but the truth is they don't know how much protein we absorb. As someone who has been on many boards for a long time I can tell you it is VERY rare that I see anyone come back saying their blood labs find them low in protein. We DO have issues with B12, Iron, and D. Even for hair issues. You don't hear too much about it past the first 2 years after the body has adjusted to the smaller amount of calories consumed and clearing the anesthesia out of the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Wildey Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 I am 8 years post op...RNY distal procedure. I took off over 150 pounds and have put some back on, which I expected to do. I would be satisified taking off 40 pounds. I have tried everything, and 3 years ago learned I was gluten intolerant. I may have Celiac, but I'm not going to put my body through consuming gluten again to have the tests run officially. I know how bad an accidental exposure is...or just two or three days of small intentional exposures, such as when traveling. I think, based on everything I read here, I'm just going to accept the fact that we who have had this surgery are just not like everyone else. I am not going to force myself to eat more than I feel comfortable eating. I'm going to stick to the WLS "rules" of eating my protein first, then my vegetables. Today is just my first day on Whole30 but for the past several months I have gotten away from starch except for toast in the morning, rice a couple times a week, white potatoes once a week and brown rice pasta every couple weeks and I ate a LOT of cheese. I do consume some social alcohol and actually, when I started that and eating refined carbs is when my weight started to go up instead of down. I take very good supplementation and have no other health issues whatsoever. That said, the Whole30 knocks out sugar, starch, cheese and alcohol for me. I think I can eat enough of the other stuff to begin to take off weight. Once I get used to this program and get over not having those things I loved, I think I will feel better, manage my gluten intolerance better and hopefully the scale will start going down again or at least not get any worse than it is. The big thing is...I want to get used to a healthy eating plan that comes as second nature to me as my unhealthy one did. Because...I'm just sick of thinking about it all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharonKayMoore Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I am a 7yr RnY PostOp too. I wouldn't do the pureés as such, from personal experience, they Run straight through. Though I do enjoy a Green Smoothie once in awhile. Try a small one and see. Watch the fruit intake.. Your Experience May be Different then Mine. YMMV...We RnYer's are a special case. We don't absorb all that we eat. We just don't... though after so long our bowels find new ways to absorb.. Usually I've heard its the sensitivity to Sugars and not the Vitamins, Protein, Minerals that we would wish.Due to this issue, i will be using Protein Shakes [i've just purchased the Mark Sisson Primal Fuel, i figure it should be decent.] Protein shakes are used by Us RnYer's not just for 'food'.. PreDigested Protein shakes can aid in our healing properly.I'm not a Doctor... But We aren't like normal folks...We have little to no Stomach acid.. what little we do have doesn't meetup with food until the intestinal tract.We have Achlorhydria [hypochlorhydria] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AchlorhydriaI have heard of another PostOp being successful with Paleo.. message me and i will send you to her facebook page.It would be great to have another person who can related to our needs... We are different.... Hi there. I'm also RnY postop. 16years. I'm on my 1st W30 Day 13. Working for me so far. Glad to find your post here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwo1083 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 So I am on day 17 of the Whole30 and feeling great. I had RNY 10 years ago and had gained weight back... I can honestly say I am feeling great. I still take my multi vitamins, VitD and Iron (in pill form) daily, doing everything else exactly as the Whole30 prescribes. I have A LOT more energy. I was also a coffee/half&half/stevia drinker- 1 large cup every morning. I switched to strong black tea (iced and black) and that has been great. I also had to change from 3 meals to 4 meals a day. I was getting hungry between meals bc i wasn't able to eat enough at each meal to keep me full till the next, and noticed the urge to snack kept kicking in. Switching to 4 meals helped me avoid "grazing" or snacking and I haven't felt hungry since. I would strongly suggest Nom Nom Paleo for recipe ideas, that has been awesome, she has a Whole30 section too! I haven't gotten bored yet! I can tell I've lost weight, but avoiding the scale I'm not sure of numbers. Feel free to ask any questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praxisproject Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 If you have any known B12 deficiencies or other malabsorption, please get tested for MTHFR and other known malabsorption disorders. Many of these won't be tested unless you ask and it's easy for doctors to assume it's surgery related, when sometimes it isn't. Sometimes eating more is not the best way to fight deficiency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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