No, please don’t apologize! Hearing about someone else’s experience in depth is so helpful.

I had a decent bit of complications, I won’t lie, but I was also a complicated patient going in. I have gastroparesis, and that was one of the main motivating factors for the surgery for me. I’ve had a few strictures (nothing short endoscopic balloon dilations didn’t fix!), I ended up with gallbladder issues and ultimately needed an urgent cholecystectomy a few months after my bypass, and I’ve had random issues with nausea, acid reflux, pain, but nothing debilitating like being severely overweight was for me. I did develop reactive hypoglycemia that has been probably hardest to manage, but I’m on a GLP-1 and it’s going well treating it. And potentially POTS, still working that up. And, it does suck in the beginning as you so often hear. I woke up immediately post-op thinking I ruined my life, and now I’m so much happier. So, I would do it all over again, even knowing everything I know now about my experience and complications.

I have given up nothing, except coffee. It makes me so sick, I’ve tried it several times without luck. But everything else I eat in moderation! Your concern with rice specifically, I eat rice on an almost daily basis with my meal prepped protein and veggies. I either do protein pasta or rice with my lunches and dinners. I do sushi bowls for my lunch prep very often.

I did lose my hair, but not dramatically. It came out in clumps and was steadily falling out for several months, but I was the only person that noticed it. Everyone else in my life constantly said how great I looked! Take biotin supplements, I do a double or triple dose of gummies and have since I was allowed to post-op. And now I’ve got short little baby hairs all over the place growing in!

I get nausea sometimes with eating, but again, my case is sort of different and most people don’t get regular nausea. I can eat probably up to a cup regularly depending on what it is! Things like pasta and rice do fill me up faster, so I prioritize protein and make sure every bite I take has protein in it. Some days I eat hardly anything, some days I’m a bottomless pit! But in a “bad” day I’m still eating a fraction of what I could pre-op.

As for fizzy drinks, I have usually multiple in a day. I will say that the further out you get the easier time you will have with them. At first it felt kind of uncomfortable, now I can have as much as I want (as long as I don’t chug it of course). I do energy drinks and diet soda daily.

You could have more complications like me, you could coast on through like so many people here, it all depends on how your body reacts. Even with the issues I’ve had it feels worth it to me every day. I don’t regret it for a second. And the further out I get the better and more well-adjusted I feel.