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many of us "gain" weight from the IV fluids they pump into us at the hospital. Some people have reported "gaining" up to 10 lbs from the fluids. However, it's not a true gain - it's just water (and water with sodium in it, I might add, which makes some people retain it for awhile). It takes a few days for it to work its way out of your system. I'd stay off the scale until your first post-op appt (most of us have our first post-op at two or three weeks out). Your weight should be on a downward trend by then.

I think it's important to talk about what we're eating. We do a lot of that. In minutia. We lable foods good and evil. We obsess about the "right" diet, calories, choices, etc.... But that's really the easy part. The hard part is figuring out WHY we're eating. WHY we ate ourselves to morbid obesity, and what need we were trying to address when we put that food in our bodies. I feel like if those needs aren't figured out and meaningfully delt with this whole process is really vulnerable to failure. I feel like we never talk about why we ate so much. I'm not saying we need pity party hour with extensive confessionals chronicallying every challenge, insecurity and poopy life event...lol. But I feel like sharing those little eureka moments were we've identified some little unmet need that resulted in bad choices....would be a good thing. For instance.... I used to get the KFC six million calorie dinner with the 12 pieces of chicken, 3 sides, biscuits and the chocolate chip cake....after grocery shopping. It was almost an unwritten thing. I deserved it. In some weird justification, I figured that I was shopping, carrying stuff in, putting things away, selflessly giving up time to a task I sort of despised for my family. Of course I deserved chicken! But really, what I wanted at the core of things....was support. I wanted to feel appreciated, and rewarded for being a good doobie. I wanted to feel nurtured after a stressful task that I hated. These days....we have a new rule at the house. The person who does the grocery shopping gets to relax and take a bath while the other person does the cooking. And you know what? It works. I feel appreciated, supported. And I eat a more balanced decent dinner and have a win. That feels good. I learned that I geninely don't like asking for help...and that I need to more often. Just writing that makes me cringe. My bariatric therapist did a lot of talking about the "whys" of over eating, and finding ways to get the desired needs met that aren't self sabotaging. I wish we talked about the "whys" more.

My RnY was just scheduled for August 17th. When I started this process last September, I anticipated having surgery around May, and had a vacation to Japan booked for November, thinking that it would be 6 months out. I imagined that I'd be mostly adjusted and just eat tiny portions on the trip. Now, it's only a three month gap and I'm a little more nervous about whether this is a good idea. Has anyone gone on a big vacation so close to surgery? It would be difficult to delay this trip for a number of reasons that are too long to get into. Japan may not even be open for tourism by November and our initial plan was to rebook for Italy if that's the case, but I don't think Italian food would be any easier! My husband and I travel a lot in general so I know I need to figure this out at some point but is it too early?

My Surgery is scheduled for August 12!!!! I can’t wait.

I’m having the same issue as you are. I had a vsg last week and haven’t lost any weight yet but after reading the others replies, I’m hoping it’ll start coming off soon!

How long ago were you revised ? I lost a total of 25lbs and I thought the RNY was easier and I am able to maintain my weight without a lot of effort. I hope you find this to be true for you too !!!

Well my "why" was NOT due to over eating. I had several health issues that contributed to me not being able to lose easily or normally. I also had a bad habit of ONLY eating once a day (just dinner) and while it may not have been the best choices (my one meal would be stuff like pasta or include bad starches with my lean meat), I did not go hog wild with second/triple helpings/etc. Just my one and done. But many times I also would never eat veggies. Not that I don't like them just I would never cook them. No clue why. But yeah, I think my problem was not eating enough throughout the day or at the correct times. My metabolism is/was ****! I'm also not one to eat sweets or even salty snacks. Just not my thing. On a special occasion/party, yeah. But not on the regular. If anything I'd get a craving for stuff like lunchmeat or cheeses periodically. I don't know, several of my docs had me keep food journals and logs over the years and most times their comments would be stuff like, "You obviously know what you should be eating. Your logs looks good. You're just not eating enough or the correct amount of times throughout the day." Or "Cut back on some of these fruits." Or "You need to start eating breakfast." Or "You really shouldn't skip breakfast and lunch." Stuff like that. It's definitely been challenging though trying to think differently when it comes to eating and when to eat. Especially after surgery since you're not always hungry. And now, since I'm trying to break my old habit of NOT eating cause I'm not hungry, I try to anyway just to fuel myself correctly. Even if it's just a little something.

Yes, they bypass is more prone, or predisposed to, ulcers than the sleeve (just as the sleeve is predisposed to GERD.,) but they are a different sort of ulcer than what you have. The bypass tends toward marginal ulcers around the anastomosis (junction) between the new stomach pouch and intestines. This is because the part of intestine that is now immediately downstream of the stomach is not resistant to stomach acid like the duodenum - the upper part of the intestine immediately downstream of the normal stomach, which gets bypassed along with the remnant stomach in the RNY. Consequently, that anastomosis is very sensitive and prone to ulcers, which is the root of the "no NSAID" rule that permeates bariatrics - you don't want to take any medication that could irritate that anastomosis (there are other meds that may be limited, too, but NSAIDs are the most common class.) What I would be concerned about is what caused your ulcer, and whether that cause would be relieved (or exacerbated) by your surgery. Similar to your hiatal hernia and GERD - fixing the hernia will likely correct your GERD and you will be back to "normal" - no more predisposed to it if you get a sleeve, but still possible. One of the problems with the bypass is that it leaves you with a blind remnant stomach and upper intestine, which can't be easily monitored with an endoscopy, so if something develops in that blind section, you may not know about it until things have progressed more than you would like them to progress (possibly to a cancer.) Some express a dislike for the sleeve because if they have a resultant reflux problem then it could lead to Barret's esophagus and possibly cancer, which is a fair concern; however, that is something that can be easily monitored endoscopically if those symptoms develop, and can be treated; problems that may develop in the blind stomach or intestines of the RNY may not be caught until it is too late to treat effectively, so there is a trade off there. You are somewhat caught in the middle, with some contraindications for both of the common WLS procedures. This is where some serious talk, and understandings, with your medical team is appropriate to really get a good handle on your problems going into this, and how those may play out in the future. I/m not so sure that I would be comforted by the matter that the surgeon may be able to work around a problem (such as an ulcer) if that problem is likely to reoccur 5-10 years in the future, and possibly worse - the surgeon is out of the picture by then, but you aren't. There is another alternative that might be worth considering, which would be the duodenal switch - it uses a sleeve, so it doesn't leave a blind remnant stomach, but due to its' malabsorption component, they typically use a larger version of the sleeve which is less prone to GERD problem. Your surgeon may not offer it (it's a more complex procedure, so many surgeons don't offer it) but it may be worth looking into to see if that fits your need. Good luck,

a lot of us were told to take whey protein isolate (when early out and doing protein supplementation) because it's the most easily absorbed by us. The others are right - collagen is not a complete protein, so that's not going to work early out if you're using it as your main protein supplement.

no need to trick it - and don't start down any slippery slopes. Letting bad habits sneak back in is what derails a lot of people's weight loss efforts. Stalls are a normal part of weight loss. I think it's your body just stopping to recalibrate once in awhile. Just stick to your plan and they'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again.