VSGAnn2014

People's first reactions aren't always their last or even their next reactions. God knows what he really thinks / has heard that WLS involves -- or even what you told him after learning just a little bit about WLS. (Did you give him the idea that you couldn't ever go out with him and enjoy a nice dinner? If so, please know that a year from now you're very likely going to be able to do that. You will surely bring home a doggie bag, however. But no one will notice.) My husband was completely supportive of me. Still, I drug his ass to my full-day educational program and to all my doctor's consultations, pre- and post-op. I continue to educate him about every phase I'm going through. But he IS perfect.

Babbs, I wish I could take credit for "my plan." Normally, I'm one of those "harder, tougher, make it hurt more" kind of people who thinks that's how to get the best results. Y'know ... beat the workers until morale improves. But somehow, this time, I decided to trust my bariatric P.A. who struck me as someone who actually knew more about all this than I did. As I said, there's no way to know how things would have turned out if I'd continued at 800 calories/day for several more months. Losing faster didn't really matter to me that much. But mostly I'm just incredibly thrilled that my maintenance calories (right now) are as high as they are. As I said before ... we'll see if this maintenance calorie budget continues long-term. I'm very much aware that things might change. And if they do, I'll just have to adapt.

On another forum this morning I saw a post in which a guy said his primary care physician just eliminated diabetes and blood pressure meds that previously cost him $100/month. At that rate, depending on where he had his surgery, he'll make back the cost of his WLS in 5-10 years. Add to that the value of the much less wear and tear he'll wreak on his body and the years of higher quality life, happiness and satisfaction he's just added to his life span and to his family's. And future surgeries he has avoided. Etc.

Weight loss isn't voodoo -- either when it works or when it doesn't work. In every person's WLS situation, there are inputs and outcomes. In my own situation, if I can measure accurately all the inputs and outcomes, that fits my definition of "science." That's not saying everyone's inputs and outcomes have to be the same as mine or others'. But if we look carefully at all the inputs and outcomes, we can often find some useful cause/effect relationships. If we can do that, we can develop new hypotheses (possible solutions) that might produce better outcomes. At least, that's the problem-solving approach I find helpful.

I told only my husband and two close friends, both out of state. Nobody else knows -- not the sibs, not the in-laws, not my clients, not my other good friends. It's been wonderful not having to educate and re-educate the world about WLS and why it isn't crazy, the easy way out, or dangerous.

Best wishes to you.

When you're able to maintain your weight after losing your weight. That's a bloody first!

@enjoythetime I just noticed your signature line, which I really like: "I know it's all about balance and doing things. I know I can LIVE WITH AND WITHOUT for the REST OF MY LIFE!" Way cool.

I'm sorry but that kind of post is part of the frustration for me. "you've lost the weight before so you know you can do it. Don't spend time beating yourself up. Instead, spend that time evaluating whats caused you to go back down that road, then begin on a new road by building yourself up and taking time to get healthy again." It's like people don't want to know, don't want to hear, don't want to understand. Even though it says don't beat yourself up, that's just what the next portion of the sentence does - it shames the individual. "spend that time evaluating whats caused you TO GO BACK DOWN THAT ROAD" Because, obviously, it must be "something they did" that made them gain lots of weight back or be at a never ending stall. That is classic blaming and shaming. Only few of us are being vocal about it, but the numbers are far larger. We did everything we were supposed to do, and never achieved goal. We had stalls and regain and addressed them in the way we were told to, and nothing happened. I have eaten and exercised like a post op, flawlessly, for the past 53 days and I have lost only 9 pounds. When one is severely overweight (do not pay attention to my numbers in my profile, they are sadly incorrect) 650 calories a day and less than 30g carbs should not result in barely 9 pounds in almost 3 months. Not when the person is 5'3" and 65 lbs over goal. As I understand from your post above, you've lost 9 pounds in 53 days. (That's not 3 months, by the way -- it's 7.5 weeks or less than 2 months ... just sayin'.) Anyway, if we assume that each pound you lost equates to a 3,500 calorie deficit (that you didn't eat), that means those 9 pounds equate to 31,500 calories you didn't eat. Further, that means you had a daily calorie deficit over those 53 days of nearly 600 calories. So given that you averaged 700 calories/day during those 53 days, that means your current metabolic rate is around 1,300 calories. And yes, I agree. Your metabolism is running VERY slow / low. And that sucks. But at least you lost the 9 pounds in less than 2 months, not 3 months.

I was sooo into Rosarita Traditional Refried Nonfat Beans with melted cheese. Actually, I still like that stuff. Just don't do what I heard one nitwit did: Puree a Big Mac. LOL!

I have some hard news for you: There is nothing about WLS that will STOP you from overeating, eating to numb emotional discomforts, grazing / nibbling all day, falling prey to environmental cues that lead you to overeat, or that will MAKE you go to work each day, walk or swim for exercise, go to the gym or even make your bed in the morning. Nothing. WLS does have many benefits for us who suffer from obesity (it's a complex disease, not a moral challenge). Depending on the procedure you choose, those benefits may differ. Those benefits may also vary from patient to patient in ways that medical fields are still comprehending. But yes, WLS offers the obese and formerly obese (that's pretty much all of us on this forum) many advantages we did not have pre-surgery. Not everyone who has WLS is successful long-term, by which I mean they either reach their goal or lose a substantial amount of excess weight and maintain their weight losses long-term. Under the most generous definition of long-term success, only 50% of WLS patients lose / maintain a significant amount of excess weight loss. The things that make the difference between those who are successful and those who are not is a big bucket of new behaviors that lead us to a different lifestyle than we had pre-surgery. Those involve what and how much we choose to eat, when we eat, what we eat first (protein), how long our meals last, moving lots more than we used to move, drinking more Water than we (probably) used to drink, taking vitamins/minersals/appropriate meds daily, etc. After WLS, it's a lot easier to build those behaviors. For instance, I could barely move when I was at my highest weight. And now that I'm 90+ pounds lighter, I move it, move it, move it. I keep my house cleaner, travel more, walk more, go to the gym more, fidget more. That means that now that I'm in maintenance my body burns more calories (per pound) than it used to require. Do I think most of us were personally complicit in creating our obesity? Of course, I do. Do I think some of us were dealt some unfortunate cards -- like slightly lower metabolism, medical conditions and diseases that exacerbated our obesity, personal traumas, poor nutritional education, tough life conditions, and worse -- yes. For many of us, we reached a tipping point beyond which it has been extremely difficult (impossible, many say) to get back across that point into the land where healthy people live. WLS is GREAT for helping us to get back across that point. But on the way there and when we get there we have to change our lifestyles to be successful. WLS helps us get back across that tipping point. But WLS by itself won't fix us. We still have to fix us. (I think I've been redundant here. Sorry.)

Imma say something blunt: If alcoholics can kick alcohol and diabetics can kick sugar, you can kick sugar, too. I don't know everything you'll need to do, but here are some obvious changes to make: * Don't buy it. * Don't let anyone else in your house buy it and bring it home where you could eat it. * Become more personally accountable and become more accountable to others, e.g., tell those you spend time with that you're not going to eat any more sugar. * Invite the support of those who love you (see above) and ask them to support your new sugar-free lifestyle. * If you really think you're an addict (you used that word, I think), then treat it like an addiction and get yourself into an addiction program, either out- or in-residence. * Stop regarding and using sugar like a treat. If you're an addict, it's dangerous to you. Treat it like poison. * Figure out what other activities or things you can use as rewards instead of sugar. * Don't hang out with people who eat a lot of sugar. * Identify all the hidden sugar in foods you are now eating that you think are sugar-free. I'll guarantee you there are some sugar-laden foods somewhere in your diet right now that you don't know about yet. * ... and other things. I know you know this, but the longer you go without eating any sugar, the less you will crave it. Good luck!

Yes, I had my gall bladder removed 4 weeks after my VSG surgery. I actually did pretty well. My VSG surgeon did the gall bladder removal, so he knew what he was working with and around. I didn't have any of the itching you describe. I just napped. (Note that I don't have a 16-month-old child to care for ... wow!) It took me only about a week to "catch up" to where I was pre-gall bladder surgery. And as far as the new scars are concerned, in a year you'll be hard pressed to find ANY of your scars from either surgery. Keep your eye on the prize. That's the only thing that matters.

I think everyone here knows that your body will not necessarily behave like others' bodies. Also, remember that when you reach goal you can't HELP but be much more active than you were at your highest weight and couldn't or didn't move very much at all. Therefore, your caloric / metabolic needs will surely rise. Here's my advice, based on my experience thus far: Don't make assumptions about how much food your body is burning. When you get to maintenance, keep recording how much (calories / Proteins / carbs) you're eating daily and what your moving macronutrient averages are. You might be surprised at how little effort this record-keeping actually takes with tools like www.myfitnesspal.com . And if you're an Excel hound, you can have a ball! I know from a lifetime of yo-yo diets and weight losses and regains that my eating / exercise / meal-planning instincts and impulses are not reliable enough to rely on without planning and monitoring. At some point in the future my instincts could become sharper and I might be able to move away from my record-keeping and metrics. But for now, I'm sticking with what is working. Short version: Don't guess. Know. Be prepared for things to change. Adjust as needed.

My surgeon put me on pantoprazole (Protonix) for 3 months. It's a PPI. I'm back on ranitidine now -- 40 mg twice a day (which is what I was on pre-op).

Others' advice (above) is correct: At your tenure post-op, you should be focusing on Protein, protein first, and then (only if your stomach can handle it) little bits of healthy, colored, non-starchy veggies. But, actually, I do eat bread. And IMHO it does have nutritional value, depending on what kind of bread you eat. The kind of bread I typically eat, one slice of the Sara Lee 100% whole wheat bread, has 45 calories and 6 grams of protein. HOWEVER, I'm 11+ months post-op. And when I do have it (rarely) I only have it toasted (the comment above about toasting bread is what I was taught, as well). But there's another aspect to bread and carb-laden foods: Bread is a real trigger food for some people. If bread is a trigger food for you, then I'd stay the heck away from it. And only you know how you feel about bread. Now that I'm on maintenance, there are some higher-carb foods I can eat in moderation, and others I know better than to flirt with at all. Congrats on being past the first rough month of recovery. Sounds like you're doing great.

What a cool thread. Have learned so much already. My fave yogurt (thus far) is Dannon Oikos Greek non-fat vanilla yogurt. It's 120 calories, 12 grams of Protein. Totally worth it to me. Recently, hubby brought home, by mistake, Dannon Oikos Greek non-fat Black Cherry yogurt. At 130 calories and 12 grams of protein, it's worth the extra 10 cals. They're my usual evening Desserts. So delicious! I treasure every lick.

For those looking for an exact schedule of what happens when and how you feel when and for those making predictions about what everyone will experience because your experience went that way, well ... it ain't necessarily so. Most people who have sleeve surgery do not experience what @@MrsDixon has experienced. Thank goodness, I didn't. I had a great surgery, an easy recovery, hit my 60 minimum Protein gram level on Day Five post-op, and by the end of Month One was recovering quickly from a second surgery -- my gall bladder was removed four weeks post-VSG op. When I arrived at this forum a year and a half ago, it was an era when everybody new was in a funk and complaining about "the complications thread" and begging people to stop posting on it because it was scaring them to death. If you think MrsDixon's first month was bad, search here and read posts by people who REALLY had it bad. She didn't have any complications at all; she's just recovering at a slower than average pace from WLS surgery. @@MrsDixon , the good news is that your recovery is going to get easier soon. And you'll soon be feeling the benefits you were searching for when you chose this surgery -- you'll become healthier, slimmer and, I hope, happier about your WLS decision.

I started 2.5 months pre-op. Short version was I decided to start acting like I was already a WLS patient. I cut my calories to 1400/day and tried to cut out / ramp up everything I knew I'd be expected to do post-op. Doing this was very helpful to me. Plus, I wound up 20 pounds lighter on surgery day than I'd have been otherwise. I realize not everyone wants to do it this way. Oh, and I had no interest in food funerals. I'm old. I've been there and done that many times before. Besides, I realized after reading a lot on WLS forums that I could eventually eat everything I loved at some point down the line -- just not every day and not very much. That was fine with me, too.

I've been lurking on and posting on WLS message boards for over two years. I've seen so many patients post here and elsewhere that they are relieved to have been sleeved and to finally have something that keeps them from overeating. But it seems that few people are willing to track their food intake other than to count Protein grams. Some don't even do that. Some seem to eat until their smaller stomachs tell them they're full. Many people seem to confuse satiety and being full. Many people never say or seem to know know how much or what they're eating. "I was sleeved so I'd never have to diet again!" is a common refrain. When encouraged to track their food intake, their refusals sound a lot like children who whine, "Nobody's the boss of me!" Being an oldster (69 years old), I just shake my head. Anybody who is (or was) obese who thinks WLS is a magical solution that will excuse them from changing how much they eat and what they eat and other behaviors and ways of thinking that led them to become obese is (I wish there were a better term for this, but I can't think of one) a fool. As usual, I'm preaching mostly to myself. I can't be a fool about this. I have to be a grown-up about this. I have to be vigilant about this. A little fear won't hurt me either.

For an alternate experience, check out this post on another thread. It offers great advice! http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/345862-an-unexpected-lesson-at-the-cardiologist/

Here are some things that have helped me: * Probiotic capsule (seemed to change things up nicely for me) * (don't laugh) When you can handle an apple with skin, try eating one a day. Sound familiar? * Water. Should be obvious. Might not be obvious. Over time (I'm 11 months post-op) the constipation issues may take care of themselves, as they have for me. I'm 6 pounds below goal (now at 144 pounds), and I can simply move so much more without any pain at all. That helps everything tremendously. BTW, I haven't taken any Aleve for over a year. My knees do not hurt nearly as much as they did when I took two a day, which I did for decades. Thank goodness I'm finally off of that crap! The only meds I take now are: Thyroid Rx, Ranitidine 40 mg (2X/day), a probiotic capsule, a vitamin/mineral (Centrum chewable), a Vitamin D chocolate truffle chewable (mm-mm!). That's it. Happy camper here.

Great information. Thank you so much for posting this. And thanks to her for being so open and honest.

Yeah, @@WL WARRIOR ... it must be hard for those people in your program to grok the challenges of obesity. I'm not one of those who thinks you have to have been fat in order to counsel the obese and formerly obese. However, every once in a while I run into folks like the people you're describing. One of the NUTs in my hospital's bariatric program is naturally slim. And I'm pretty sure I can see her regarding her bariatric patients as "not like me." I don't get that vibe from anyone else I have met with or worked with. But her ... she's just not that into us. Frankly, I think she'd be happier selling cosmetics.

I hate reading how badly served some of you guys are. If you're not getting good service from your old surgeons, please find other healthcare providers who will meet your needs. Don't nurse your hurts -- find new help! My surgeon says that our relationship will last for as long as he's practicing and I'm alive. He expects to see me annually at the very least. That works for me, since I figure this weight loss journey will never end for me until I'm dead. He's also got a SUPER bariatric PA whom I adore and who's very knowledgeable and helpful. He's allied with a hospital that has nutritionists, exercise consultants, counselors, research librarians, a WLS support group, and more. My WLS surgeon is also a general surgeon and performed my husband's cancer biopsy surgery last fall (hubby is now in remission, thank you!). He also performed my gall bladder surgery a month after my WLS. So he's now our "family surgeon." I was recently invited to become a "patient lecturer" at my surgeon's / hospital's day-long educational program to describe my own personal experience with WLS. I'm thrilled to be able to give back in this way. I declined to provide a Web site video testimonial (I don't want to be THAT public about my own WLS), but I feel great about encouraging my tribe of people who are obese and want to kick obesity's butt.