Bariatric vitamins can be super confusing. It’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s great that there are tons of options with endless configurations available to you. But on the other hand, it can make things way more difficult than they should be.
For that reason, we’ve compiled a “Quickstart Guide” to Bari Life’s vitamins so you can quickly and easily understand which vitamins you should take at each stage of your post-op journey.
We have specific recommendations for which Bari Life products are best suited for each of these phases of your bariatric journey. Luckily for you we keep it simple.
After you read this quick guide you’ll fully understand how to meet all of your vitamin needs after bariatric surgery for the rest of your life using Bari Life vitamins!
Pre-Surgery (4 weeks leading up to surgery)
It may surprise you to learn that 90% of patients have vitamin & mineral deficiencies prior to surgery.Let me say that again. BEFORE SURGERY most patients have some kind of nutritional deficiency. This means it’s important to start taking a bariatric-strength multivitamin and mineral supplement to help mitigate those deficiencies as you go into surgery.
Ideally, you should start your pre-surgery vitamin regimen for the 4 weeks leading up to your surgery date.
The good news is that we make it easy for you at Bari Life. Instead of having to buy a special “Pre-Surgery Bariatric Vitamin,” We have options that work in each phase of the journey. Here’s how it works.
> Complete Bariatric Vitamin Formula
Bari Life’s Complete Bariatric Vitamin Formula is the total package. It has your multivitamin, iron and calcium in one convenient supplement.
It’s available in a non-chewable tablet and a dissolvable powder form. These supplements can be taken as a pre-surgery, post-surgery and long-term post-surgery option. The only thing that changes is the dosage size.
Pre-Surgery Dosages
Post-Surgery (4-6 weeks after surgery)
After surgery, your primary objective is to heal your stomach. This is why you go on a 4 Phase Diet that slowly progresses you back to eating regular foods.
But until then you need to avoid stressing your stomach.
> Complete Bariatric Vitamin Formula: Powder
For the first 4 – 6 weeks after surgery you need to only use Bari Life’s Vitamin Powder. Since it’s in powder form you simply mix it in water and drink it so there’s no pill to swallow or chewable to chew.
The most common reason for being readmitted to the hospital after bariatric surgery is dehydration. Bari Life’s Powder Vitamin Formula helps prevent this because you mix it in water. You get all of your micronutrients and your hydration in one step.
The timing is somewhat important. The main recommendation is to take one scoop/packet in the morning and the other at night. Just don’t mix both together and take it all at once because you probably won’t absorb everything. Your body can only absorb so much at one time! Once you are 4-6 weeks out from surgery you get more options.
Ways to use the vitamin powder:
- Put it in a shot glass and mix with 1 oz of water/liquid
- Mix it in a bottle of water/liquid and sip gradually
- Mix into a protein shake (you may blend it with ice)
- Place small amounts of the powder directly on your tongue like a Pixie Stick.
- It’s really up to you how you use the powder.
Long-Term Post-Op
At 4-6 weeks after you have your bariatric surgery, you’re pretty well healed and ready for the rest of Bari Life’s vitamin options.
In addition to the complete vitamin powder (you can stick with this long-term if you like), you can now take:
> Complete Bariatric Vitamin Tablets
Put simply, the Complete Bariatric Vitamin Tablets are the exact same formula as the powder you used during the Post-Op phase, it’s just delivered in an easy-to-swallow non-chewable form.
We’ve found that this is the most popular form because there is no taste, no chewing, nothing getting stuck in your teeth (like a chewable vitamin). You just swallow the pills and you’re done – it’s a sustainable option that you can stick with for life.
How to take the tablets:
- Put the pills in your mouth and take a sip of water.
- Hold the pill in your mouth for a few seconds to activate the easy swallow coating. This makes the outside of the pill turn into a gel of sorts and much easier to swallow.
- Swallow the pill.
- Never take more than 3 tablets at one time of day – take 3 in the morning and 3 at night.
- Can be cut in half, but file the edges with a nail file if you do.
Long Term Post-Op Powder Dosage
“Wait…I have to take 6-8 tablets per day???”
It may sound like a lot at first but think about it this way. This includes your Multivitamin, Iron and Calcium. There’s nothing else required.
If you separate out everything into individual supplements you’re likely going to take 1-2 Multivitamins, 1 Iron and 3 Calcium totaling 5-6 pills/chews for the whole day.
So it all works out to be the same in the end, but with Bari Life’s all-in-one option you’re guaranteed to get everything you need and it saves you a lot of money.
> Just One Multivitamin with Iron
Just One is our once-daily multivitamin with iron. As it sounds, you need to take “just one” pill per day for your multivitamin and iron needs.
This option is essentially the same as the previous two options (all-in-one tablet and powder) but it DOES NOT have any calcium citrate.
The good part is you only have to take 1 pill per day, but you do need to take supplemental calcium to get EVERYTHING you need to meet your daily needs.
Which leads us to BariBurst Calcium Chews…
> BariBurst Calcium Citrate Soft Chews
If you’ve opted for Bari Life’s Just One once-daily bariatric multivitamin (or any other bariatric vitamin without iron) you need to supplement your regimen with a Calcium Citrate product.
(Emphasis on Calcium CITRATE). Calcium Citrate is the most easily and available form of calcium for bariatric patients. If you want to learn more about calcium click here.
Bari Life’s BariBurst calcium chews are individually wrapped calcium soft-chews. They are delicious and each chew is filled with 500 mg of elemental calcium citrate and 1,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 to help prevent deficiencies and optimize calcium absorption.
How to take BariBust Calcium Chews:
- Gastric Bypass and Sleeve patients need 1,500 mg of calcium per day
- Each Chew contains 500 mg of elemental calcium citrate
- Take 3 chews daily separated by a few hours each (your body can only absorb about 600 mg of calcium at a time
Since Bari Life’s Just One multivitamin with iron and BariBurst Calcium Citrate Chews go so well together we bundled them together for a discounted and convenient package.
> Just One + BariBurst Duo
This convenient bundle includes a one month supply of Just One multivitamin and BariBurst Calcium Chews. This way you make sure you are getting all of the nutrition you need without having to worry about missing anything.
Also, by bundling them together you save some money too. It’s a win-win.
In Conclusion..
The ever-growing list of bariatric vitamins that are available to you can be confusing and frustrating. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be.
As long as you understand what you need and have a few options that satisfy those needs you’re in great shape. (If you’re not sure what you need use our free Vitamin Calculator and we’ll tell you exactly what you need in each vitamin & mineral after bariatric surgery).
Use this article as a guide to your Bari Life Vitamins. All of these options set you up perfectly to meet the ASMBS Guidelines and on the right path to preventing vitamin deficiencies down the road.
The last thing you should be worrying about is vitamins after bariatric surgery, if you follow this guide you will never worry about them again.