Escape_Pod

Is it possible you're just in a stall? How long have you been bouncing around within the same 2 pound range? I've heard of stalls of over a month. I had surgery the same time as you (6/29), have about the same amount to lose as you post-op, and I've lost 34 pounds post-op, so I'm pretty much where you are, only mine's been slow but steady. If you quickly dropped 30, then had seroius medical issues, your body may just be in defensive mode, figuring out what the heck is going on. I hear and understand your frustration (yes, all the tracking is a LOT of work), but don't give up yet! Whip out your before photos (and before measurements if you have them), and take a moment to Celebrate how far you've come in 3 short months. The scale will begin to cooperate again! Hang in there.... (And vent here any time! Lots of sympathetic ears here!)

CarolinaGirl, do you have guidelines from her for earlier stages? (I'm at 3 months out, and I'm curious). Thanks!

I ran into the same issue with the nutritionist my surgeon sent me to. She didn't set a calorie goal, but she recommended a minimum of 100 grams of carbs daily. Like you, I thought that just didn't sound right. Now, I'm only 3 months out, but I'm averaging 800-900 calories/day, but burning 300 or so of those with exercise. My carbs are generally under 30g (total carbs, not net carbs), and I aim for a minimum of 80g Protein daily. I've been losing steadily - 2-3 pounds/week except for that time of the month. I'd guess your Nutritionist is getting 180g carbs from a percentage of the calorie intake she's recommending. Mine said 100g was necessary for healthy brain function, but from what I read, your brain can get what it needs from the fat stores you're burning, just not as efficiently. I know some people here low-carb religiously and find it to be key, others don't and lose the weight just fine too. Honestly, I don't know what to think. Is she not as in tune with WLS practices? Is her knowledge dated? I've prepaid for a series of meetings with her, and I'm thinking I need to look for someone else once I've used up my prepayment. I tried to ask my surgeon a couple of times about nutrition questions, and it was pretty clear he really doesn't pay attention to that side of things, he leaves it up to the nutritionist. I know I've seen services on the web that do WLS-specific nutritional phone consults nationally. Maybe I need to find me one of those??

You can definitely bake with Protein powders! It's just that when you're making beverages, hot liquid can cause the protein to clump, making your beverage lumpy. It's still got all the same nutritional value, it just feels weird. Think of it like an egg. As an egg goes from room temperature to hot, it moves from a liquid form, to soft solid, to firmer solid, but it's still an egg, and it still has the same nutritional profile. Just be aware it may not behave like flour in your recipes, so you'll have to experiment! You might also try experimenting with other kinds of flour - almond flour, or ground flaxseed are both higher in protein than wheat flour, but again, they'll alter the texture of your baked good.

MsC, best of luck on your surgery next week!! We'll look forward to seeing you (and your bluntness and opinions!) on the loser's bench. You make an interesting point about the Biggest Loser. I've always wondered about the viewer demographics - are they smug thinner people, enjoying the feeling of superiority and feeling validated in their opinions, or are they desperate people like you and me, wanting so very much to believe it really is possible for them to become thin? I work with several people who carry a sense of superiority and find it appropriate to josh the occasional individual about their weight or their sense of clothing style. I wonder if they ever realize how blessed they are not to wear their flaws so publicly for the total strangers to pick at and despise.

I'm actually going to a Geneen Roth retreat in October - I'm looking forward to spending a few days really focusing on this issue. I'd also really recommend reading The Pathway by Laurel Mellin - I'm finding her technique to be a very practical approach to breaking the cycle of emotional eating. Geneen really helped me understand the why, but I needed more pragmatic advice on the how, and Mellin's book is helping me with that.

I had bad reflux pre-op, and despite finding a large hiatal hernia that was the likely cause, one surgeon (also the gastro who did my upper endoscopy) strongly advised me to have RNY. Another felt I'd be fine with the sleeve, but only because they found no Barrett's esophagus. It was a tough decision for me, but I was definitely going to proceed with surgery, even if it meant RNY. I know a lot of people are turned off by the regain stats for RNY, but my two cents is, we'll see more of that with the sleeve as it becomes more common and we have more people 6+ years out. I don't have a cite to it handy, but there's a discussion on one of the other forums about a study that found that for 85% of those who regain (even with RNY), the causes are noncompliance with the post-op diet requirements (Protein first, don't drink with meals, etc.) These are things in your control! Yes, there are down sides to RNY, and for people with certain medical issues, RNY may be a really bad option. But Barrett's esophagus can send you down the road to esophageal cancer, even if you have no post-op acid issues or have it under control. (My husband has some Barrett's, and he has an upper GI every few years to keep an eye on it). I lost my mom to esophageal cancer last year, she didn't even know she had it until it was far too late and it had spread to her stomach and liver. Less than 8 weeks after diagnosis she was gone. So, admittedly, this is something I'm pretty sensitive about. I'm not saying this will happen to you if you have the sleeve, but it's a factor to weigh, and to weigh seriously. Because of the design of the sleeve, it can really increase the pressure tending to push acid back up into your esophagus. If you've already got tissue damage, you're at high risk for problems post-op. Bypass would be a much safer option for you. Does that mean it's your best choice? Not necessarily, but it's something only you and your doctor can know based on your personal circumstances. I'd recommend talking to the doctor more about your concerns about bypass and why you don't want it. Then you can make the best possible educated decision.

So good to know the fat free half-n-half worked. I followed her recipe for my first batch, and they came out really dry (and I took them out well before the timer went off). I was thinking I needed a creamier base and was wondering if the fat free half-n-half would work. Thanks!!

I know it's frustrating to read about people who seem to be losing HUGE amounts of weight in the first month or two, if you're not one of them. But honestly, there are so many factors that go into how much you'll lose and how fast. Men lose faster (damn them!). People with a higher starting BMI lose faster. Younger people seem to me to lose faster. People who didn't have a larger pre-op loss seem to lose faster initially (because the first 10 pounds of any weight loss is mostly water). Some people who are losing faster may be losing muscle mass as well as fat, which will slow down their weight loss later (because muscle mass makes your resting metabolism higher). And some people stall earlier, some people stall later. What's important to remember is, you will lose the weight. It may take longer to come off for some of us (I lost about 15 pounds the first month, 10 the second, and 7 so far in the 3rd month), but it's going to come off, and it will come off consistently, without you feeling like you're starving all the time, and it's going to stay off. Yes, maybe you've been on crash diets where you lost faster, for a little while, and how long did that last? Stick to your surgeon's plan, give your body the liquids and protein it needs (you want to keep the protein up so you maintain muscle mass, which will keep your metabolism from slowing down), take a deep breath, and remember it's not a race, and it's not a diet. This is for the rest of your life. You want to be learning good eating and exercise habits, and learning how to live with your new sleeve and eat for life, not live to eat. And if you're still feeling like a slow loser, check out this thread on slow users unite - you're in good company, and it's full of people who are successful sleevers! http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/11308-the-good-thing-about-being-a-slow-loser/

I really thought about RNY for the same reason - I've always had a huge sweet tooth, and I thought dumping might be good reinforcement for me. However, as many have pointed out, you can't count on dumping with RNY - many people don't, and some sleevers do. The other problem is, I've known myself before surgery to eat so many sweets that it made me sick and that still didn't stop me. Even assuming dumping is MUCH worse, I could see the possibility of it not being enough of a deterrent. On the flip side, I really hated the thought of a high likelihood of becoming lactose intolerant with RNY. And now that I've had the sleeve, I've noticed on other forums how bypassers have to be so much more careful about things that would never have crossed my mind - Peanut Butter, tomato sauce, etc. UGH!! I will admit to a couple of bad incidents with sweets post-op. Bottom line is, if I'm eating sweets now, it's most likely for emotional reasons. 99% of the time I really don't crave them, and I've gotten used to artificial sweeteners, so I'm really ok with sugar free pudding and Atkins PB cups if I really need a treat. Emotional eating is a demon I'm going to have to battle regardless of which surgery I've had. It's definitely something I'm actively working on - if I don't, I'll end up being one of those people who regains down the road, and I am NOT GOING THERE!!

I did have a very mild "dumping" sort of experience one time. Ate too much of something sugary, and got really nauseous. Hard to tell when that developed, since I fortunately don't eat anything likely to bring it on very often. I'm still figuring out how to find the best balance between allowing myself the occasional treat to avoid the "this is a temporary diet" mentality, and not slipping back into bad eating habits. I'm kind of afraid of sugar and chocolate at this point - probably not a bad thing!!

Interesting! I do still get hungry, but right now I get full on much less than I did before, and I stay full longer. Maybe it just took longer for my stomach nerves to regenerate after surgery? I guess I figures at this point I'd be gradually eating more, not less. It will be interesting to see if this is just temporary (this is day 4 of this changed appetite), or if this is my new normal. This is definitely a learning experience, isn't it? Complicated by the fact that people's personal experiences vary a lot. I guess the important thing is learning to listen to what my body's telling me, and focus on getting the best possible nutrition from whatever I do eat.

(Apologies for cross-posting, I posted this accidentally in another forum section by accident and can't see how to delete it) So, I'm eleven weeks out from surgery, and my hunger never entirely disappeared. It's not a ranging munchies monster (and I'm SO excited about that!), but I do get a definite, strong "empty" sensation first thing in the morning, or a while after meals. This week suddenly I'm feeling full more, and longer. I'm eating the same things I ate last week and the week before, so it's not the transition to denser foods. It did start the day after eating something I shouldn't have earlier this week (emotional eating reared its ugly head for the first time!), but my tummy was completely fine with it at the time - no pain, no discomfort. I'm not sure whether this is normal ebb and flow of appetite (which would be a first in my life!), whether my sleeve is grouchy at me over my lapse earlier this week (even though it felt fine at the time), or what's going on. For three days I've had to really work at getting in my liquids, Protein shake, and a bit of meal - I just don't want anything, and I don't seem to be able to eat the portions I had been. I'd been doing 1 Protein Shake and 3 mini-meals, with an occasionaly small protein shake on days with a longer workout. Now I'm thinking I may have to go back to 2 Protein shakes to get my daily protein goal in. I'm really surprised to be experiencing this at this point in time. Has anyone else experienced something similar this far out? Not that I'm complaining.... just wondering!

Please, please please look into counseling!! As FeedYourEye noted, you can do serious harm to yourself at this point while you're still healing. I sympathize 100% - I've spent the last year working on my emotional eating issues, and worked my way from the bottom of a deep pit of uncontrollable binge eating to more normal eating, to the decision to proceed with WLS. It's not easy, but it's so worth it, and it's something that will help you succeed in keeping the weight off long-term. I fell off the wagon this week myself, which is dangerous enough at 11 weeks out. Foods like almonds and raisins may take more effort on the part of your stomach to digest than it's ready for at this stage. You're still a long way from your staple line healing, and you don't want to cause a leak! Think of your sleeve right now as a new baby that has to learn to eat again. Treat it gently, feed it according to your doctor's guidelines, and go slow. You may want to spend a few days back on a liquid diet to let it heal from yesterday's eating and gently reintroduce more solid food. Please be careful, and take care of yourself.

I agree with Rootman, I think a lot of people have a perception of WLS as being an extreme measure, only for the super-morbidly obese, and extremely risky, (and, possibly, not likely to be successful long-term). Public perception hasn't yet caught up with the reality of it - it's much safer than it used to be, the risks of WLS are much lower than the risks of remaining obese, and it's the only proven successful way to keep weight off, as compared to a 5% success rate of doing it through traditional diet / exercise, even in a physician-monitored program. I've told almost no-one, just my husband, and a couple of friends. I may feel more comfortable talking about it further down the road. I hope so, I think that as more people become aware of it as an successful option for overweight people they know, it will gain greater acceptance.

Wow, I'm also envious of everyone's weight loss pace. I'm down about 32 pounds since my surgery on 6/29, that's 11 weeks. I lost another 20 pounds pre-op. Weight loss averages 2 pounds/week probably at this point. My calorie intake is generally between 600 - 900, I exercise approx. 45 minutes 6 times/week (stationary bike or treadmill), plus I recently started yoga twice a week. My portions are actually smaller this week - still figuring out why I'm suddenly feeling more restriction. I start my day off with a protein hot cocoa, breakfast is usually protein only, with the very occasional 100-calorie Chobani Champions greek yogurt thown in for variety (higher in carbs, so it's not a regular treat). Lunch is 1/4 - 1/2 cup tuna and cottage cheese mix, or 1-2T peanut butter, or 2-3 oz. grilled salmon. Dinner is the protein part of whatever I'm serving my husband - I've been trying out the recipes on BariatricEating.com recently and they're FABULOUS. I was doing a late afternoon cheese snack, but I'm too stuffed this week.

Oh man.... I've so been wanting to try a pumpkin shake (or pumpkin pudding or pumpkin mixed with greek yogurt) - it's that time of year. But I can't find canned pumpkin ANYWHERE! I've checked several large grocery stores, and either they're completely out, or there's not even a spot on the shelf for it. It's like there's been a recall. Weird! Now I'm motivated to try a couple more stores - that looks yummy!

I want to go scuba diving (two words for you - WET SUIT!) I want to go river rafting I want to go up in a hot air balloon I want to walk a half-marathon I want to try on my wedding dress one last time, and then sell it on consignment because it's too big. Things I'm enjoying so far: I finally felt confident enough to join the at-work yoga class with my skinny coworkers I'm enjoying my workouts, not dreading them I can shop in regular stores Life is GOOD!!

They have a nutritionometer on their website - maybe that would help? http://www.dominos.com/pages/calculator.jsp

Thanks Emily!! Your surgery's coming up so soon, you must be very excited. You've done an AWESOME job on your pre-op weight loss - congratulations! Guess we'll see you on the loser's bench next week!

Just putting in my two cents here as a binge/emotional eater with a bit of painful honesty. I'm eleven weeks out from surgery today, and I'm finding my sleeve to be pretty darned tolerant of whatever I feed it. Nothing has come back up, and I've only felt discomfort a couple of times in the early weeks from eating too fast. Yesterday I apparently lost my mind, and I ate a mini chocolate bundt cake - about 600 calories! (And no, it didn't take me an hour and a half to consume it). Did I enjoy it? Not really after the first couple of bites. In fact, the sugary-ness of it made me a little queasy, but darned if I didn't eat almost all of it anyway. Honestly, I've had several incidents over the past couple of weeks, either eating things I shouldn't, or eating more than I should, just because I thought I wanted it, and then regretted it. I've gotten sloppy. But yesterday was the worst. I'm SCARED, feeling like I'm standing at the edge of a HUGE cliff, that this is a warning sign that this isn't going to work for me, that I'm going to regain it all a few years down the road. Frankly, I wish I had spent the rest of the afternoon / evening heaving it back up or coping with some other kind of physical misery, but it just didn't happen. I was certainly miserable about it in my head and heart though, and I haven't felt much like eating today. I got myself right back on the wagon, got in a longer than usual workout yesterday afternoon, and an extra workout this morning on top of my yoga. I'm re-dedicating myself today to watching what I eat, both quality and portion, and listening to my body and what it wants, and what makes it feel good, and strong, and healthy. And I'm sure as heck not going anywhere near that bakery downstairs. I'm still working on the emotional eating issue. I'm doing much better than I was a year ago, but it's going to be an ongoing struggle for me. This surgery is a huge help, particularly at the beginning, restricting how much you eat, giving you really important health reasons for making sure what you eat is healthy and nourishes your body, and if you're lucky, punishes you when you make bad decisions. But it's not a fix for the mental / emotional reasons behind food issues. Weight loss surgery will practically guarantee you'll lose a lot of weight, and you may even make it to goal and beyond, but if you're like me, you'll have to continue to battle those demons in other ways if you want to keep the weight off. In some ways, I'm finding these early post-op months to be counterproductive in practicing the strategies I'm learning to fight emotional eating, because the physical signs of whether I'm hungry, or full, are a lot more subtle. I've never been very good at reading them to begin with, and it's a lot harder at the moment. I have my work cut out for me, but I WILL succeed in this. Never let success go to your head, never let failure go to your heart...

Thanks gals!! I suspect that's it - I don't feel like I should get credit for losing this "regain" weight, so I'm not appreciating the loss the way I would if it had been 10, or 20 or 30 years since I'd been this skinny. Which is silly, I'd been fighting the regain for quite some time, and feeling like I'd never get it off again, and now here I am, doing it! Maybe I just need to make more of an effort to count my blessings!! I read a quote recently I really liked - never let your successes go to your head, never let your failures go to your heart ... or something like that.

I started walking as soon as I got home, and have been increasing time, distance, and intensity. After about 3 weeks I started using my stationary bike - I want to do everything I can to ensure I'm losing fat, not muscle mass, so I keep my metabolism up. At my 9 week checkup, I asked the surgeon about exercise restrictions, and he said I could do anything at that point, so I joined yoga at work and want to start adding some strength training to my regimen - see if I can reduce my bat wings. I think it's all a matter of finding something you enjoy, and as the weight comes off, you'll enjoy the energy you're feeling, and the strength of your new body. For me, music during my workout is crucial - keeps my pace up, and makes it so much more enjoyable.

There's such great information here! I just wanted to share a couple of things from my experience. As I was waking up from the anesthesia, I was HORRIBLY nauseous. I remember what seemed like a whole team of people around me, checking on how I was doing and administering medications to make me feel better. The rest of the time I was in the hospital, pain and nausea were well under control. It definitely felt like I'd had surgery though. Getting in and out of bed to walk the floor HURT, but was doable. I was also so sleepy it was a challege to stay awake enough to get my liquids in. My surgeon didn't do a leak test either, so I was able to have ice chips immediately post-op. (YAY!!) My mouth and throat were always dry though. I was actually grateful for my CPAP machine the first night because of the humidifier! I was also grateful for the catheter, saving me from having to constantly get unhooked from everything and get in and out of bed - it's a fairly substantial production. You've got the pressure cuffs on your legs, the morphine/IV drip, the bp / pulse oximiter, the catheter tubing, plus probably a couple of ice packs, and the nurse call button. I found removal of the catheter and the drain port to be no big deal - just minor discomfort. I was weaned off IV pain and nausea meds before I went home from the hospital and transitioned to oral meds, felt great, and was impatient to be on my way - it seemed to take forever. Apparently it didn't take long enough, I ended up with a horrific rebound headache and nausea once I got home, and it was a real challenge for about an hour to get it under control - lots of cold washcloths, ice chips, and frantic meds. After that I was fine. Have liquid tylenol on hand - it was ok to take in addition to the prescription pain meds (FOR ME - don't do this without checking!), and then I used it as I transitioned off the prescription pain meds. I wasn't able to sleep even on my side for at least 3 weeks, and on my stomach was completely out of the question. For at least two weeks I had major insomnia - could never sleep more than 2-3 hours at a stretch. My surgeon advised that getting of the oxycodone would help with that, and I think it did. I stayed really swollen / bloated for about 3 weeks, so much so that I had trouble fitting into my pre-op work clothes to go back to work. For some reason I tended to chill easily the first few weeks. I'd get up in the middle of the night for a dose of pain meds and end up shaking all over and teeth chattering until I got warmed up again. I was also really emotional from the anesthesia / pain meds / etc. I'm now almost 11 weeks out, I feel great, and it was all completely worth it!!

This is a great question - I don't think a huge slab of chocolate cake from Cheesecake Factory should be my go-to celebration method any more! (LOL) I'm thinking about things like new music for my workout play list, new exercise clothes so I feel fabulous in my yoga class, fresh flowers, and other small treats along the way.