JEANMR1

Hello About nine years ago I had the gastric sleeve and lost a bunch of weight. I gained it all back. Almost a year ago I had bypass surgery and have done very well. I’ve lost over 90 pounds and am less than 10 pounds away from my goal. I am taking it far more seriously this time and feel I will keep it off. My problem is that when I look in the mirror I only see a person that weighs 250 pounds and feel like a fraud when I’m shopping for a size 12 in pants. Am I the only one or have other people had struggles with this as well? thanks

Thank you guys. It is nice to know I’m not alone. I should use this site more it is so great. There are so many real tangible changes I just hate I can’t see them even though I can do things now like cross my legs (in the girl style). Who would have thought that is actually comfortable. I take pictures of my seat belts when I go on planes because it is so exciting seeing extra belt rather than squeezing myself in it or trying to hide the fact I can’t quite buckle it. Oh and I can ride my bike without my legs bumping into my stomach reminding me I’ll fat with every pedal of the bike. Hopefully the view in the mirror will change in my head soon and I won’t feel like such a fraud when shopping in the regular section. I’m 50 years old and the last time I weighed this little (153.5) I was probably no older that 12. I gotta lot of head stuff to undo. thank you again.

I had sleeve surgery about 9 years ago. Went from 260 to 166 roughly. Gained most of it back. No Gerd. Hated myself. I’m almost 1 year post op conversion to bypass. I have lost weight faster throughout. Was 245 and now 153. I have lost weight faster because I don’t take it for granted this time.

Hey please know you got this. I have been beating myself up for needing a revision. Had leave to bypass may 19. I am outpacing my first weight loss by a lot. I’m wiser now. Every single day is a choice and you will be successful if you make good choices more days than not.

So far I have had good luck in revision due to weight gain. starting weight for sleeve 254 3 months out 204.5 weight loss of 50.5 ——————————— starting weight for bypass 245.5 3 months out I weigh 199 today (wooo!) weight loss 46.5 So the weight loss has been about the same but it has felt easier. I’m very glad I did the second surgery.

I had revision due to weight gain a few months ago. I went from a sleeve to bypass. It was covered by my insurance but I still had to go through all the normal hoops to get to it. By the way it’s going very well and I’m happy I’ve done it

I’m 3 1/2 weeks out from my revision. I’m jealous that you cannot eat chicken for nine months. I hate chicken and that’s all I’ve been eating. 🙂

I had the revision surgery on May 19 and I have had no issues. With a sleeve I had issues swallowing and had to stay in the hospital another night. Basically I had no pain except a headache a couple days later. I’ve tolerated everything just fine. Frankly it was just much easier than the sleeve.

I’m so sorry you are going through this. I would talk to the doctor. This week I will be at three weeks post op. I stopped the omperazole less than a week after because I found I didn’t need it. I only had two bouts vomiting and I think one was because I hated what I was eating and the other one was because I wasn’t paying attention and probably did not chew well enough. My biggest issue is that I am picky and don’t like ground chicken or ground turkey and I miss vegetables more than I could ever imagine. My experience could be a bit different because I had a revision for my sleeve because I screwed it up and gained on my weight back. Good luck and I hope things get better for you soon

I would really love some success stories as well. Had sleeve 8 years ago. Went from 260 down to 166. After about a year started gaining it right back and with this crazy year I'm back to 250. I'm going for a sleeve to bypass revision but the doctor said the results typically aren't as good. I'm having trouble finding much on the internet specific to that. Thanks Jean

Thank you for the good thoughts. It is an awesome tool to have at my disposal. My plane trip is in 10 days and can't wait to pull on the seat belt rather than suck in my stomach (we all know what I'm talking about) and perhaps (gasp) even put the arm rest down between the seats. I have been having a hard time because my mom has been unexpectedly incredibly ill these last few weeks. I have not always made the best choices in what I have eaten but have at least made it at meal times and haven't snacked on a bag of chips or anything. I'm ok with that - I'm human. Dealing with stressful things has always meant food to me. So perhaps I have ordered chinese food for dinner but at least I'm still sitting at the table with it, skipping the rice, and staying away from fried things. I have also gotten up early to exersize when I can't sleep since my evenings have been too busy/stressful for me to drag myself to the gym. Alas, wine goes down too easy. I've only been losing roughly a pound a week lately but I shouldn't complain about that. Down 60 pounds (23.6%) since 12/1/12. Good luck and continued success to everyone else out there. Jean

I just wanted to take a minute to say how much I love my sleeve. I was sleeved on 12/6. Since I started my preop diet I have lost 60 pounds (starting weight of 254). Two weeks ago I ran (slowly) on the treadmill a 5k. I have NEVER done that and I'm 41. This is my lowest weight since high school. I have made mistakes here and there and have grazed and eaten sweets but those incidents were being human and I forgive myself. Mostly, if I'm going to snack, I plan for it to be an isolated incident and am ok with that. I think seriously about what I'm putting in my body now and the sleeve has helped me do that. I have taken this seriously and have tried to eat well and work out and anyone who thinks this is an easy way out is ignorant and/or uneducated. I'm going on a plane (wooo Disney World) in 19 days and CAN'T WAIT to pull on that seatbelt rather than holding my breath to close it. My point I guess is that for anyone thinking of doing this should think about whether you are willing to change and then allow the sleeve to give you the helping hand. If you think this is a quick fix then it won't help. You can still eat chips on the couch and not lose weight. However it can help you break the cycle if you are ready. I really loved beer but knew this decision meant no more beer ever. Good luck to anyone getting ready to do this. It is an awesome tool! Jean.

Thank you! I'm proud of myself and everyone else out there that can accomplish what I have done and more! The surgery sucked but it was what I needed. My partner lost 120 pounds on weight watchers and works for them now. It worked for her but it didn't for me. The surgery was the right choice for me.

So this isn't no carb but I assume it is low carb. At my local BJ's and Stew Leonard's they have this lavash bread. It is 3 weight watchers points for a piece that is larger than a sheet of paper. Toast it up and put toppings on it. Yummmm.

Thank you for this thread! I am 4 1/2 weeks out and have went up 1.5 pounds about a week ago and now the scale won't budge. I was feeling very depressed about it.

I had mine done on 12/6. I'm down 28 pounds (from 256) since 12/1 which was the start of the preop diet. I find that the hardest part now is reconciling my mouth enjoying the taste of food vs my stomach capacity.

So I was sleeved last Thursday (wrote a small review today) and I have no problem drinking liquids including a complete protein shake in a few minutes time. So I'm worried that I'm going to be able to eat too easily too. My stomach growls numerous times a day. It seems like everyone else has no interest in food or only has head hunger. Is there anyone out there the same as me but when it came time for food they could only eat a few bites? Thanks Jean

I'll try to call tomorrow.

Ha. I'm day 6 post op and started poking around the boards to see if anyone had wine at this stage. . I'm on full liquids with zero issues drinking so I'm tempted...

I'm not sure what a bougie is so I can't say. I hope you all are right and I'm full after a few bites. We'll see maybe at the end of next week.

Hi everyone I had my sleeve done last Thursday December 6th at Hartford Hospital with Dr. Papasavas. My pre op diet was 5 days long. Not terribly fun but managable for that short time. Surgery was delayed by about 4 hours because they were running late but went fine. I think it was just under two hours an had no problems. I don't really remember the rest of Thursday as I was out of it pretty good. On a side note, it turns out I knew my roomie in the hospital room which was awesome. Friday was really tough. I couldn't take even a sip of water without extreme pain and nausea. Definitely one of the longest days ever. Saturday was the day I was supposed to go home. I couldn't because I couldn't drink. As the evening wore on and I tried periodically to drink, I found I could tolerate it about 50% of the time. That was encouraging so I gave myself a break and said I wouldn't try again until Sunday morning (since I still had an iv in my hand). Sunday the tides turned and all of a sudden I could drink without issues (the vast majority of the time). Was released Sunday. In regards to the surgery, overall it was a lot more than I had anticipated. I guess I thought of it like having my gallbladder out but it was much more. I have six slices in my belly (to go with the three on the previous gallbladder surgery). This isn't a complaint but more of a realiziation that this was much more - I thought I'd be reading and watching movies and enjoying myself in the hospital. Nope, mostly I was just miserable and my head hurt so much I couldn't do anything. Sunday at home went well but couldn't shake the headache. Monday morning was the worst headache of my 41 years and I've had some doozies. I ended up taking the pain meds for that and not at all for my incision stuff. Tuesday I called the doctor's office and they said I could start protein shakes so that seems to have resolved my headaches. Back to work today (Wednesday) and doing really well. Now my question/concern...I can drink easily taking a sip a minute or even more frequently. I even just had a whole protein shake with no problem. When I get to foods, am I still going to be able to eat a lot? I'm so worried I'm going to be able to eat a lot and not lose anything. Thanks Jean

I'm having surgery on Thursday and I feel like I am going to be some weird case and it won't work. I'll still be able to eat food and not lose weight. Anyone else feel like that?

Thank you both. That does make me feel better!

I am having dr pappasavas on Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes!