Leaderboard

Hi everyone! I'm 4 months post op (RNY) and I'm a little concerned regarding my weight loss journey in the upcoming months. The loss has started to slow down while I'm still very overweight and I'm worried about how to maintain a "normal" metabolism to be successful in long term maintenance. Would love to get your feedback as my nutritionist has not been very helpful in this sense. Some stats and specific concerns (sorry for the long post but I want to be thorough): Age: 28 yo female Height: 5'3 Starting weight: 297 lbs. Starting BMI: 52 Surgery weight (Dec '19): 259 lbs Current weight (4 months out): 191lbs. Current BMI: 34. Food: My daily average intake is of about 500 calories (450-650 range) and I get about 60 grams of protein (eat mostly protein and still use protein supplements). I follow my plan which is based on portion size and not weight or calories, but I weigh and track my intake because "eyeballing" doesn't really work for me. While I'm good in that range of food intake in terms of hunger, I could definitely eat more if "needed". I've been able to stick to my plan during coronavirus lockdown no problem. Exercise: Desk job. I do very light weight training about 3-4x a week and short walks on the treadmill 2x a week. I used to swim more often but now that's not a possibility. Other: I'm trying to up my water intake but it's about 40 - 65 oz a day. I take all my vitamins and supplements. I don't have diabetes or any hormonal issues that I'm aware of. While I have been consistently losing weight (60 pounds in 4 months), I'm starting to notice a slow down and have hit a couple stalls (one lasting 3 weeks). I want to make sure that I keep a good rate so naturally I thought about increasing exercise and maintaining my current diet (reducing is not a possibility) but I'm also concerned that: If I start exercising a lot now to try to speed it up, then as time progresses and I hit more stalls, they will be very hard to break as the exercise would have to be incremental and there is only so much time/energy/will power that I have. So do you recommend adding more exercise at this stage to maximize loss in the first months or should I "wait" until I need the extra kick? Same thing with food, by eating 500 calories a day, am I sabotaging future weight loss? It will be impossible for me to cut down on calories if I hit a stall. I'm also worried that as soon as I start increasing the calorie count I will gain a lot of it back or completely stop my weight loss. I know that 500 kcal a day is not sustainable in the long run. I have read so many threads trying to find an answer but there doesn't seem to be a right one. My nutritionist just tells me to "stick to portion size and allowed meals" and not look at calories when I ask these questions. My surgical team has told me to just follow her instructions and keep the focus on weight training. Any personal experiences, words of advise, etc would be highly appreciated. I'm starting to obsess over these concerns of balancing maximizing weight loss in the first months (which I understand are were biggest loss is achieved) and mid/long term success. I know comparing journeys is not ideal (it has definitely been a source of frustration as I see people with lower BMIs losing faster than me) Thanks!

Stay Safe and Hopefully Well/Healthy Everyone! Hi, I got the Loop Duodenal Switch almost a year ago, done June 2019. Please, if you post, say the surgery without abbreviating it, as I am not familiar with the initials/abbreviations of the surgeries, unless you want to post a list that would be appreciated too. I wanted to know if you ever experienced losing weight too fast. If so, did it ever slow down, or did you gain it back? I have been told that I might have to have revision surgery because I am losing at the same rate as when I first got surgery, which will be a year ago in June. I don't want another surgery, as it was pure hell the days and weeks after surgery, for multiple reasons. I was told that I could go as low as 95 lbs, but I am already at 134 now, supposedly one will slow down weight-loss once they have reached 50% of weight-loss or something to that degree for the Duodenal Switch Loop. I am just curious as to if you wouldn't mind sharing what your weight-loss journey has been like if it has been more than 1 year and especially if it has been more than 2 years. Were there any concerns over losing too fast? If so, what helped without a revision surgery? I have to say at one point weight-loss was fast, I was able to slow it down after I was told that I would need revision surgery after the 1 year mark, mostly by food journaling. This COVID-19 ridiculousness got me off track again of losing slowly even though I went back to journaling. I hate to say this but with my own journey, Although I start off by listening, I find that some of what a nurse/Dr. says sometimes is crap, so I want to make sure that the talk of me needing revision surgery is not more, crAp. What have you done, Help! I know that it may seem like a ridiculous thing to be alarmed about but I really can’t handle another surgery so I would like to know if this has happened to anyone else and what worked for you besides revision surgery. Thanks!

Yay! So happy for you that your stall is over! Just got on the scale and I’m down 5lbs!! Whoop! My stall is over too! 😁

weight loss DOES slow down after the first couple of months, so that's normal. a lot of people seem to eat 600-800 calories/day the first few months, so you're a little low - unless of course your dietitian told you to eat 500, in which case I'd follow her guidelines as she knows you and your history and I don't.. (we were told not to count calories the first few months post-op and to just focus on protein - but I knew how many calories I was eating because I was tracking every day - and I still do!) you won't ruin your metabolism. You WILL need fewer calories the lower your weight gets, but that's normal. It takes a lot more calories to run a 300 lb body than it does a 140 lb body (or whatever - I just pulled those numbers out of the blue). p.s. I just re-read your post. Yes - weight training will increase metabolism (or preserve it). It takes more calories to support a muscular body than it does a flabby one.

Thank you!

I have a friend that drinks a lot after surgery, I am 5 months post op and at my doctors that I can have some now but I'm afraid of it lol what if I become an alcoholic.

Oh, and update that ticker, gurl!! Flaunt it!!

No two are the same - for example the guys here slam the weight off Who really cares about time or per month- you are rocking it and getting healthy, Keep up the good work and congratulations.

@BayougirlMrsS, why don't we leave politics out of the discussion and focus on health and support.

Not sure which surgeon's photos you looked at, but one thing you need to know about Mexican surgeons especially is that the "after" photos are usually taken VERY soon after the procedure. It takes a good two years for surgical scars to fade. What you are looking for when reviewing photos of scars is whether they are thin, flat, straight, and symetrical, not how dark or visible they are. The dark and visible part fades with time. If they are zig-zaggy, or wide, or asymetrical, those things do not improve with time.