DLCoggin

I think the gas problem following removal of the gall bladder is very common. I had mine out so many years ago that I don't recall how long it takes but it does resolve itself. I was so glad to be free from the pain that the gas was a welcome trade-off! Lol!

In the absence of any medical reasons that would point to sleeve or RnY as the better option, RnY is the most effective treatment known to medical science for obesity, type 2 diabetes and more than 30 comorbidities associated with obesity. With a history exceeding 30 years, RnY is also the single most studied bariatric surgery option - by a very wide margin. RnY patients typically lose a little more than sleeve patients but the complication rate for RnY is a little higher. Both surgeries are safe and effective!

I had sleep apnea for a number of years. In my case there wasn't much "feeling" to it other than you never really feel like you got a good nights rest. Using the CPAP was a huge improvement. But RnY completely resolved the sleep apnea! Never felt better and can't say I miss the CPAP!

You can start anytime - today if you want! Just take it easy to begin with and you'll want to avoid any heavy lifting. My surgeon said nothing over ten pounds for six weeks following the surgery. You don't want to break any suture/staple lines. Walking is a terrific starting point. When it's too cold outside you can go with a treadmill (not my first choice) or even walk in a mall. I started out walking 20 minutes and now do about 2-3 miles (about 55 minutes) four or more times a week. Great exercise and my black lab enjoys it even more than I do!

Congratulations and so sorry to hear about your friend's loss. But you'll be celebrating your success every day for the rest of your life!

Congratulations Erin! Can't wait to hear an update. You're gonna love the new you!!

I'd jump right in and tell your PCP up front that you're considering the surgery and ask if he/she has any other patients that have had the surgery. It's hard for me to imagine any doctor that is knowledgeable about bariatric surgery discouraging anyone unless there are medical problems that would increase the risk to an unacceptable level. Diet and exercise as a solution for folks with a BMI of 30 or greater is a myth. The failure rate is well over 95% and some doctors believe it is closer to 100%. Doctors have known for years that it doesn't work but they simply didn't have any options to offer. Now they do. And you're gonna love the new you!

It is very difficult if not impossible to know if a stall ends because it had run it's course or because of something that you did. There's nothing wrong with trying some of the solutions that folks will offer you but consider an alternative - follow your plan. No matter what. Regardless of what your weight is doing, follow your plan. Rapid weight loss, follow your plan. Slow weight loss, follow your plan. No weight loss, follow your plan. If it helps, here's my plan: Stay positive. Stay patient. Stay focused on following the protocol as closely to the letter as you possibly can. Maintain a food log. I know it sounds simplistic but if you follow your plan, no matter what, you will find that the whole process is so much less stressful and the weight will take care of itself. Trust the process and let your body find its own way in its own time. You're gonna love the new you!!

With the exception of the enlarged spleen I had all of the same problems plus a family history of adhesions (scar tissue) that forced an open surgery to remove my gall bladder about ten years ago. Ten years is like a century in medicine. My surgeon knew my complete history including the adhesions - she said there was no way of knowing if she would be able to do it laparascopically until she got in there. Bottom line - she was able to perform the surgery laparascopically. I was literally shocked at how little post-op pain I had. Took Tylenol with Codeine twice and haven't had so much as an aspirin since. They diagnosed an ulcer at the anastomosis about six months post-op. Surgeon doubled my Rx for Prevacid and they repeated the endoscopy three months later and the ulcer was completely healed. 99% of folks are nervous (aka scared spitless) of the surgery and the other 1% are liars. Lol! I'd be more worried if you weren't scared! But the reality was much less dramatic than my pre-op over-active imagination had conjured up. Best decision I ever made and I'd do it again in a second! You're gonna love the new you!!

Thanks for the kind words Misty. There are many very knowledgeable folks here and everyone is more than happy to share their experiences. You're in the right place!!

Interesting question. I don't know if this will help you but from the beginning of my journey to right now, my focus has always been on Protein and calories as opposed to volume. That is not to say that I don't pay attention to portion sizes. I read labels for calorie, serving size and protein information and when I have any doubt, weigh or measure my portions to ensure that I'm eating what I think I'm eating. But I've never considered how much volume or weight a meal should have. That might not be the best idea from a weight loss perspective since foods vary so widely in terms of calories vs volume or weight. Perhaps if you focus on protein and calories, and heed the signals from your pouch that it's full, the weight or volume question will take care of itself and the likelihood of stretching the pouch will be minimized.

Did u do the cottage cheese test? If so what were ur results? anxiously waiting to hear! Hi Misty! No, I've never done the test. I've never had any reason to suspect that there was a problem with the pouch. My weight has been steady since I hit 155 and that's over a year now.

I would love for someone to explain to me how to do a food log. I know the purpose, but I have no idea how to do it. I haven't met with the Nut yet, so this is still a learning process for me. I also use My Fitness Pal but others on the forum give Spark People very good reviews as well. The first thing you'll do with any of the apps is your settings. You'll enter height, weight, gender, age, etc. etc. and then you'll enter your goal weight and (at least with MFP) how much weight you want to lose per week. From that data the app will calculate a recommended daily calorie intake. Remember that number is just a "one size fits all" calculation based on the info you've entered. Every one of us is different and there are a lot of variables like exercise, calories burned in your job, raising a family, duties around the house, etc. Do not hesitate to experiment a little. Make adjustments to your calorie goal until you find "your" number - the one that works best for you and your lifestyle. So let's say that MFP "recommends" 1200 calories a day based on your settings. That's a good starting point but what you want to do is follow the recommendation for a week or so and see what happens. If your weight loss goal is a pound a week and you lose a pound, great. If you don't lose or even gain, then adjust the calorie goal down by say 100 calories and try it for another week. The point is that with a little experimentation you can fine tune the app for the calorie count that produces the results you're looking for. You're just a few weeks post-op. Perfect time to start logging! The longer you use it, the more you learn. But you're unlikely to be able to consume the number of calories that your app will recommend. That's fine - just adjust your calorie goal to either the number of calories your doctor recommends or if he or she hasn't made a recommendation, adjust the goal to whatever number you think you can achieve based on where you're at in your journey. Perhaps the most important thing to understand is what I call "The Law of Average". It is crucially important to understand and treat your calorie goal as an "average". Regardless of what your calorie goal is, you are not going to meet that goal every day for the rest of your life. Ridiculous. Unrealistic. And unsustainable. More importantly, you don't need to! When (not if) you exceed your calorie goal for a given day, all you need to do is reduce your goal by 100-200 calories for a day or two and you're right back on track with your - AVERAGE. It's easy, it's fast and it works like a charm. I've done it not once or twice but many times. And you don't have to do it too many times before your confidence soars. For what may be the first time in your life, you're managing your weight (and your diet) instead of your weight managing you. Food logs also make you accountable to the only person that matters - YOU. Logs educate you regarding the effects various foods are likely to have on your weight loss or weight gain. Logs "train" you to recognize what meals will lead to weight loss and which ones will lead to gain - and how much. They also allow you to track the macronutrients (Protein, fat and carbs) and see what effects (good or bad) increases or decreases have on your weight. They also allow you to track your exercise as well as many of the micronutrients aka Vitamins. That's a LOT of information all in one place and the app doesn't cost a dime. Finally, it has been proven again and again by countless studies that folks who maintain a food log lose more weight, lose it faster, and are more successful at maintaining their goal weight than those who don't log. Versatility, confidence, education, accountability and greater success in less time - all pretty compelling reasons to use food logs. You're gonna love the new you!!

Do you maintain a food log? Very, very powerful tool. I'd be glad to give you some thoughts on how to use one if you're interested. Congratulations on reaching out quickly!! 10-12 pounds is nothing compared to what you've lost and I'm confident that you'll be able to lose that weight before you know it!

RnY patients are usually encouraged to focus on getting all of your doctor's recommended protein in first. It's great if you can meet that goal and have a little room left for veggies. If not, protein still has to be your number one priority. If you have to temporarily sacrifice the balanced diet (veggies), that is the healthier choice. It's not uncommon to read about folks who are struggling to get all of their protein in and at the same time are suffering from a lack of energy. When it comes to energy, carbs are king. On a normal diet, carbs provide about 60% of your body's energy needs. But our body's are remarkably adaptable. When you're on a low carb diet, your body will metabolize protein for energy. No carbs + no protein = no energy. More important than the way you feel, for several months following surgery your body is doing some serious healing. That takes a lot of energy. Failure to get enough protein will slow healing, increase loss of lean muscle and weaken protection against infections. Respect the protein requirements following RnY and your body will thank you. You're gonna love the new you!!

Thanks for sharing this Truckerchic! Not only is this article loaded with great information, the entire site has excellent info on a broad range of obesity related topics and links to a number of other great sites. Highly recommended!

I found the thought of quite literally and quite permanently changing the physiology of my body to be a little spooky. No matter how you slice it, that's a big deal. I also found the fact that I had been obese virtually my whole life and there is no doubt that obesity is a progressive, life threatening disease more than a little spooky. I was convinced that I would not, could not ever succeed with diet and exercise - depressing, but in my case, an honest real-life assessment that had proven to be true more times than I could count. The knowledge that the surgery might fail, or I might fail the surgery, was ever present. The possibility, however remote, that I could die on the table was undeniable. My belief that I would almost certainly never see my grandson graduate high school, much less college, was devastating. The thought of not being there with and for my wife for every precious moment possible was (and still is), unthinkable. Fear comes in many different forms. Prompted by many different considerations. Every benefit has a cost. Every option has an associated risk. There are no guarantees. There are no absolutes. There are no perfect answers. There is no escaping the fact that every course of action raises its own associated doubts. As everyone has noted, the decision can only be made on a personal level. No one knows you better than you. Your feelings, your beliefs, your thoughts, your strengths, your weaknesses, your commitment, your doubts, your fears. Whatever decision you make, whatever path you take, will require courage. Courage is not about never being afraid. Courage is about doing what you believe to be the right thing, for you, in spite of your fears. Happy New Year and we all wish you the best in your journey!!

About two or three times a month I have "hungry days". I've never been able to identify any pattern or cause. There are just days when I seem to be hungrier than most other days. When than happens I focus on eating solid, relatively bulky foods. Usually meat - chicken, fish, turkey and even pork or lean beef. eggs and low fat cheese are also good but not quite as bulky as meat. If I'm really hungry I sometimes eat only meat for a meal or two. Very filling and fullness lasts considerably longer than softer foods. And they are very high in Protein and low calorie. If you do a little experimenting and log your meals, you will likely identify solid, bulky meals that are within your calorie goals, exceptionally filling, and that you can fall back on when you're struggling with appetite from the steroids. There are also some excellent Snacks out there - Pacific Gold Teriyaki Turkey Jerky (Costco/Amazon) and Old Wisconsin Turkey Sausage Snack Bites (WalMart/Amazon) being two of my favorites. Hummus is another one that I find very filling. Have a great day Music!

It isn't uncommon for folks to go back to work after a week but - my surgeon advised me to limit lifting to 10 pounds or less for six weeks following surgery. You don't want to over stress those new suture lines and possibly develop a leak. Walking, sitting, and even bending are all fine as long as you're not experiencing any pain. I have to second what others have said - I was shocked at how little pain there was following surgery. They had me on a morphine pump the day of the surgery and for a while the following morning. I never used it. The afternoon of the day after the surgery I had a little pain. They gave me Tylenol with codeine twice, four hours apart, and that was the last med I took for pain. It worked like a charm and what little pain I experienced subsided very quickly. I was up and walking two hours after the surgery and it helps a lot to not only reduce the pain but also to reduce the gas from the surgery. Walk, walk, walk and sip, sip, sip are great ideas! Congratulations on your decision! You're gonna love the new you!!

Dumping really isn't anything to "fear" and it's also not something that should be considered a guaranteed benefit of RnY. Although decidedly unpleasant, dumping is seldom serious and rarely requires medical attention. What folks often fail to realize pre-op is that a sizeable percentage of RnY patients never experience dumping. That really isn't too big of a deal since there is no scientific evidence that folks who experience dumping are any more or less successful that those who don't. There is a very long list of benefits associated with surgery and not one of them is attributed to dumping. The list of possible symptoms of dumping is fairly long but everyone is different and may or may not experience any given one. Vomiting, nausea, dizziness, accelerated heart rate - all possible symptoms. About two-thirds of patients experience early dumping which usually occurs 15 to 30 minutes following eating. The remaining one-third experience late dumping which usually occurs two to three hours following eating but can occur as much as twelve hours later. Late dumping is usually the result of reactive hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Dumping is often associated with foods high in sugar but dumping can also result from eating foods high in carbohydrates or fats. It can be easy to over eat for several weeks immediately following the surgery. Your pouch has nerves that function as stretch sensors. Those nerves send "full" signals to the brain. But for a period of time following surgery, those nerves are ineffective during the initial healing process. That's why you will often read folks saying they don't "feel full". It usually passes within a few weeks. Until then, it's doubly important to watch your portion sizes. Once things settle down most folks have little trouble knowing when they're full. You're gonna love the new you!!

The connection between both stress and lack of sleep and weight regain is well documented and the subject of a number of studies. There have been successful treatments from a psychological perspective but that is well beyond any help I can offer. But I love your determination and having completed your degree has hopefully reduced the stress you are under. If you are not doing so already I strongly recommend maintaining a food log. I use and highly recommend My Fitness Pal but Spark People is recommended by many folks on the forum as well. In my experience, the key to weight loss and subsequently to weight maintenance is managing your weight. And the key to managing your weight is maintaining a food log. And the key to maintaining a food log is understanding what I call "The Law of Averages". You've set a goal of losing 10 pounds by Feb. So your goal is to lose a little over a pound a week. Configure the settings in your app to lose a pound a week. The app will calculate a daily calorie goal that you'll need to achieve in order to meet your weight loss goal. It is unrealistic to expect to meet a calorie goal every single day for the rest of your life. More importantly, it's not necessary. That calorie goal is an AVERAGE. So on those occasions when you go over your goal, you simply adjust your goal down by 100-200 calories for the next day or two and you're right back on track with your average. It's all about control, not denial. So you try your calorie goal for a week and then check your weight. If you lost a pound, great! If didn't lose anything or even gained a little, adjust your calorie goal down - don't get crazy, 100-200 calories should be enough. Follow that for a week and then check your weight. Repeat until you find the number that works best for you. It's simple, it's easy and it works like a charm. Your log helps make you accountable - to you. It also works amazingly well in helping you understand the relationship between what you eat and the effect it has on your weight. It teaches to manage your weight instead of your weight managing you. When you see the changes in your weight in response to those minor calorie adjustments, your confidence soars. You log allows you to react quickly to changes and that makes all the difference in the world. Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress. There are tons of very knowledgeable folks on the forum that are more than willing to help you along the way. You're gonna love the new you!!

I'm just over two years out and haven't experienced any loss in motivation. But after reading your post, the first thing that came to my mind was what was your motivation three years ago? If you have 65 lbs to go after gaining 30, then you were within 35 lbs of your goal weight. That's a pretty amazing accomplishment in and of itself! What was your starting weight and what kind of plan did you follow to lose weight? What worked best for you? When did you start struggling? What may have changed in your life that resulted in your losing focus? What health benefits have you seen from your weight loss? What quality of life improvements have you seen from your weight loss? How important are those things to you? Sometimes I think we all need a "refresher" course in the things that work best for us as individuals and why we started this journey in the first place. If you did it once, you most certainly can do it again. Tell us more!!

Great idea. Anything that can be done to make it easier for folks to locate the information they're looking for with less navigation is a great idea!

Great job!! I'd love to hear your thoughts on succeeding with wls.

Regardless of what your weight is doing - follow your plan. Stay positive, stay patient, stay focused on following the protocol as closely to the letter as you possibly can, and maintain a food log. There is no schedule for stalls and no way to accurately predict how long they will last. On the other hand, one thing is certain - as long as you are consuming fewer calories than your body is burning, sooner or later you will start losing again. There is no doubt. Science and the laws of the universe cannot be denied. You're among friends here. There isn't a single one of us that can't understand your frustration. Just focus that energy on following your plan and you're gonna love the new you!!