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12/26- 151 Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

So I posted a couple of weeks ago about how I am severely anemic with extremely low hemaglobin and Iron levels. My hematologist said it is more common in those with the bypass, but it can still be a side-effect for those with the sleeve, and most often you don't start having the absorbtion problems for a couple years post op (I'm almost 3 years post op). Anyway, iron supplements didn't work at all. Hemaglobin stayed the same, but iron actually went lower.. So last week I had to start iron transfusions via IV weekly. I guess I was unrealistic in thinking that I would feel so much better afterwards. It's been a full week - I go for my second transfusion tomorrow - and I still feel awful. I had to take FMLA leave from work because there are literally days I cannot get out of bed for completely and utter lack of exhaustion. I guess I should have been more realistic. It's not my doctor's fault. She is amazing. I just am frustrated. This has been a 4 month process now of feeling like complete crap and I just was really optimistic that when I finally got the treatments they would work. Sigh. I just want my life back. When I can't even go to work half the time, you can imagine I can't work out. So I am basically burning no calories, apathetic, a little on the blue side, and just want to get back to doing the things I love.....running, barre class, playing outside with my kids. I had surgery to be able to do these things. I got to do them for a couple of years, then I find myself back to not being able to because of this new issue. I'm so complainy....haha.. I'm sorry! So my question..... Has anyone else had to get iron transfusions? If so, how long until you got your energy back?

I don't think it hurts to try! It's really so variable depending on your age, health, skin elasticity, etc. I was similar to you in starting stats. I did have skin on my tummy - excess enough that insurance covered a tummy tuck and panniculectomy at 18 months post op. My inner thighs have a little and my arms have more than I would like. The skin removal surgery for my stomach was TOUGH and I have no interest in doing it again for any other part of my body. I've come to accept that my skin may be looser than others in some areas, but it is well worth the sacrifice to be able to do the things I can do now, and to have gained so much of my self-confidence back. So, I guess my point is, sure....I think it's worth trying all of those things. Why not!? But in the end, know that I would do the surgery 50 times over even with the saggy skin. It just really wasn't a deal breaker to me.

Just by listening to your body, really, and doing what you are doing. I would always hiccup when I was full - not really sure why...lol - and that was a cue that even if I didn't feel "full" my body was telling me I was full. A lot of it is retraining your brain to question, "am I really HUNGRY, or am I just not STUFFED yet." Know what I mean? We often eat those couple extra bites because they are on our plate, or because we are satisfied but not overly full, or sometimes we just eat because we are thirsty or bored or tired. For me it was really a retraining of asking myself "do you FEEL hungry right now, or do you just want to eat." 9 times out of 10 the answer was no.

Why wait unitl January 2nd? To me, that just would reinforce all the old patterns of starting diets after the new year, etc. I would recommend doing some of the hard emotional work at getting to the underlying issues that are driving you back to food. It's difficult, but it's very worth it. I lost 140 pounds, then around 2.5 years, got very ill and had a little bit of regain. I gained back about 25 pounds. Since then, I've been able to lose 15 pounds that I regained, leaving me about 10 away from where I was. I can tell you that losing again after even a little regain is much different than losing right after surgery and it is a LOT of hard work. I would start today though. You have to get rid of that "I'll start on Monday" or "I'll start in the new year" or "why bother with today, I already blew it, I'll start tomorrow" mentality. That's what got us all to the points we were at to begin with!

Mine was a pretty steady progression. I think, though, if you are still eating as per the bariatric recommendations, it could definitely happen!

Congrats on starting your journey! Good luck!

You are sooooo 100% correct. I can promise you that although it feels overwhelming to be working through this, the fact that you have realized this and are taking the steps to work through it will help you be successful in the long run! It was at about 10 months post op for me, when I had reached my goal, that I came to the really kind of depressing realization that the same issues that drove me to overeat in the first place were still there. It was at that point I sought out therapy, and I've been working with an eating disorder therapist for 3 years now. I know without a single doubt if I had not done that, I would have gained back all 140 pounds by this point. I've always suspected that I was a "stress eater" but that is just the tiniest tip of the ice burg. I was eating to not feel what I would feel if I acknowledged some truths in my life regarding relationships, self-esteem, etc. Coming to terms with all of this has been SO empowering. I'm so happy to read that you are doing this difficult but rewarding emotional work!

Congratulations on starting your journey! I would say outside of the medical advise of your surgeon/doctor, the most helpful thing I could offer would be to be prepared to do the difficult emotional work that comes with this journey. I wasn't necessarily prepared for the realization that the emotional issues driving me to overeat in the first place would re-emerge on my sleeve journey. I had to deal with those or I would only have been initially successful, but not successful in keeping the weight off long term.

I have lots of them in my blog which is themeiamnow.blogspot.com. Feel free to check it out.

Congratulations on progress forward in your journey! Good luck to you!

So there's a lot of questions here. I'll do my best....lol. I think you'll get lots of varying answers when you ask the question about whether the sleeve can stretch or not. I don't think it matters really what the answer is, as much is it matters that you understand that you CAN gain weight with the sleeve. It doesn't matter if it stretches or not. If you put the wrong kinds of food into it (small quantity or not) you can and will gain weight. The period of time right after surgery is key (the first 10 months or so) because you are healing internally and there's some swelling, etc that makes it pretty difficult if not impossible to eat "normal" portions of food. You have to maximize this time and stick to the plan religiously to get the most out of the surgery. I would say somewhere around 10-12 months post op everything kind of healed I suppose and I felt that I was able to eat more at a time. That's when I had to become really, really mindful of the kinds of food I was eating. Because I *COULD* at that point eat pretty much anything without getting sick. But just because I physically COULD doesn't mean I SHOULD. So, yes, once you get to a certian point post op you will be able to eat the old kinds of things you did eat before. But you shouldn't. It got you in a bad place to begin with, so you definitely do not want to return to it. What I can tell you with certainty is that if you stick to eating Proteins and limiting carbs to 30-40g/day, you will feel maximum restriction that day and the following day. If you introduce back in those carbs, they tend to be "slider foods", tend to make you crave more, and feel more hungry. It becomes a cycle. So the more you're able to eliminate them from your diet, the better it is for a variety of reasons. I've nver had any issues with food sticking or getting sick at all once I got past the first couple of months. I didn't really even have those issues then, jsut maybe a little nausea if I ate too much or ate something sugary. Once the healing was complete, nothing bothered me. I can take regular size pills and Vitamins. I have not had malnutrition issues. You don't have the malabsorption that you have with the bypass, so that is rare with the sleeve. I did have some hair loss, but probably only noticable to me. There's really not much that stops that. It will run it's course. I can tell you that around 1 year post op I had lots of regrowth and I have a full, thick head of hair. My biggest issue with the sleeve has nothing to do with the sleeve at all. My biggest issue is that after that initial "honeymoon" stage when I was losing tons of weight rapidly, I realized the same emotional issues were still with me that caused me to overeat in the first place. I had to start working hard on myself, the underlying issues, and what was driving me to food. I realized that if I didn't do that, I would quickly be back where I started. Hope that helps. Good luck with your journey.

Welcome and congrats on starting your journey! Definitely make the most of this "actively losing" phase of your journey and stick with the recommended plan so that you maximize the results! Good luck to you!

Congrats on starting your journey! You're in the right place for lots of good info and support!

Definitely stay hydrated, that can help. But you can also use miralax and just mix it in with your Water. It's pretty gentle. From time to time - because if you stick to the bariatric diet you don't really get a lot of Fiber - I have to use some milk of magnesia to get things moving. It always does the trick.

Weigh in for this week is 149.6 (whoohoo!!) .6 away from my challenge goal!

Wow, that's great that everyone's had such a good experience with their relationships! Good to know! I unfortunately did not, and it blew me away! I never would have expected it, but on a subliminal level, my husband (of 18 years) was more comfortable with me not losing the weight because the process of me losing weight woke a lot of insecurities for that had no basis in reality. I also did a LOT of work on myself through 3 years of therapy to deal with the underlying issues that were causing me to eat away my feelings. Through that process I regained a lot of my personal power, and it wasn't something he was able to come to terms with. It's a very loaded issue in an individual's life and within a marriage. Ultimately, my husband was not able to adapt to the thin, more empowered version of me. As a part of the process, I regained my personal agency and my personal power, which kind of threw off the dynamic of our marriage and he wasn't able to get on the same page with me. I'm not at all trying to discourage you, it just is something worth being mindful of. In the end, you need to make the decision that you can live with in the end. It sounds to me like you want a life that you are actively living and you have every right to that life. :-) Hopefully since you're so early on in your relationship you will both grow together.

there are SO many factors that go into answering that question that it's almost impossible. :-) I stuck to the plan religiously and hit my goal weight by 10 months post op. At that point the weight loss definitely slowed down and I also came to the realization that I actually *could* eat the things I used to eat at that point without being sick. That scared the crap out of me and at that point I started going to therapy with an eating disorder therapist because I realized that I was still the same struggling person, just at a lower weight. Good luck to you!

This is something that is WAY overlooked in the WLS world! Post-Bariatric Eating (counting every single carb and calorie you put in your mouth) is awesome and helps us be extremely successful with weight loss, but also re-engages perhaps dormant eating disorders or swings binge eating the other direction to anorexia. I've been in therapy with an eating disorder therapist since 10 months post op (am now 3+ years post op) and that has been a huge issue for me. Right now I would consider myself in a "maintained recovery", but it's a constant struggle. Get support - talk to a therapist - this is not uncommon and I wish we as a community addressed it more.

Great post! My journey was similar to yours. I was 3 years post op in Sept. The first year was all about excitement and watching all the pounds melt away. The second year was the harsh reality that regardless of my weight, I still had the underlying issues to deal with, and year 3 was all about transformation of the spirit and making sense of that new reality. Good luck on your continued journey!

I felt very prepared for the surgery itself and everything physical and medical related. I think what I didn't give enough attention to prior to surgery was the emotional work that would be involved with weight loss and how deep it went. At the end of the day, the 140 pound version of me had the same emotional issues with food that the 278 pound version of me did. I wasn't expecting to have to do so much emotional work, but doing the work and putting in the effort has resulted in long-term success, so it's SO worth it!

151.6 for me. I'll take it!

If this is something that you want, don't turn away from it! At this point, you are probably not going to change his mind. Honestly, I would probably just quit engaging in the discussion. I would probably say something like, "I love you and I respect and value your opinion, but we've already discussed the reasons I believe this is best for me, and I am moving forward with it. I hope you will support me....now let's talk about something else."

So sorry I'm late weighing in! -.8 for the week. Not a good loss, but a loss is a loss, and with Thanksgiving in there, I'll take it! this week's weigh in: 153.0

First of all, I don't think you were "cowardly" to back out of the surgery. It sounds like you weren't ready emotionally for the commitment. If you had gone through with it not being ready, you may not have been successful. It seems like you are in a better place now & I think that makes a huge difference! Your surgeon likely won't have a problem with it. I'm sure people get cold feet or back out for various reasons all the time! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App