James Marusek

Here is an internet link to the definition of slow metabolism. http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/slow-metabolism/faq-20058480 According to them "If you weigh more or have more muscle mass, you will burn more calories, even at rest. So people who weigh more are more likely to have a faster metabolic rate — not a slower one — because a portion of excess weight is muscle tissue." When you have WLS, you tend to lose weight because your meal volume decreases and you consume less calories. So by their definition your metabolic rate should slow down slightly as you lose weight. You metabolic rate changes with age. At around 80 years old and beyond individuals tend to lose weight without much effort. As I gained weight over the years, I became diabetic. My body no longer properly handled insulin. After a while I found that even when I dieted and exercised, I could not lose weight. Instead I gained weight. That was alarming and one of the reasons why I choose to have RNY gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago. There are several medical conditions such as PCOS that can dramatically interfere with weight loss. Also many medications have side-effects that interfere with weight loss.

Congratulations.

You will probably not notice the full feeling until you reach the solid stage which is generally around a month post-op. Since your signs were a runny nose or a heavy sigh using the lap band, it probably will be the same trigger. For me it was runny nose, hiccups, mucous accumulation, sneezing.

Right after surgery it can be hard to meet your Protein and Fluid daily requirements. But just keep trying and in a few days you will get there.

Bariatric surgery is fairly expensive. Fortunately many people have health insurance that will cover most of the cost. But even so, dealing with the insurance companies is a major pain.

It is important to separate the Iron supplement from the Calcium supplements time wise. I was low on iron. I figured the calcium in the milk might be interfering with the iron, so I moved my iron to the end of the day just before bedtime.

Congratulations on your weight loss.

It could be a Vitamin issue. For example B12. If your taking it using a time release tablet instead of a subliminal tablet or if you are taking the wrong type of B12 (it should be methylcobalamin). But I don't think that is the problem in your case. The clue is in the symptoms that you described. Low blood pressure reading, tired, lightheaded, fainting. Some patients after weight loss surgery develop a condition called "reactive hypoglycemia". Here is a link. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/expert-answers/reactive-hypoglycemia/faq-20057778 and another link http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/060415p48tip.shtml If this is the cause, you want to become aware of the problem and the simple steps that need to be taken before it progresses to passing out.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. This is my approach during the maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

The three most important things after undergoing weight loss surgery, or for dieting for that matter is to make sure you are meeting your Protein, Fluid and Vitamin daily requirements. If you lose weight, your body might start to consume your muscle mass in order to steal the energy it needs to survive. Thus you could lose muscle unless you make sure you supplement your protein. As you lose weight and the fat cells dissolve, they need to be flushed through your system, your kidneys and into your urine. So you need plenty of fluids to allow this flushing process to work properly. Your body produces Vitamins from the food that you consume (unless you undergo RNY). So if you diet, you are starving your body from the vitamins that you need. Therefore vitamin and mineral supplements are required. Also exercise is important, your muscle mass will decrease quickly without physical activity.

Congratulations and let us know if we can be of any help.

Yes and it can happen fairly quickly. Here is my before RNY gastric bypass surgery photograph and one with almost the identical pose at 6 months post-op. This is a short article I wrote about the experience. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I am 3 years post-op. If I recall correctly, it seems like they took off my exercise restrictions after the first follow-up appointment. So this is a good question to ask your surgeon when you see him next week.

Congratulations. Just concentrate on the three main elements: fluids, Protein and Vitamins and good luck.

Congratulations.

Congratulations and good luck on your surgery.

Congratulations and good luck on your upcoming surgery.

Congratulations.

I am not one for running. It does too much damage to the feet joints. I prefer walking. Generally I like hill walking. It uses one set of muscles on the way down and another set on the way up. It is sort of like climbing stairs and walking down stairs. So if your pain levels drop so you can walk, perhaps you can try hill walking. So you already know you have to cut out the beer for awhile. Are you able to do this on your own or do you need a support structure like AA to help with that? I am 3 years post-op RNY. This is the approach that I use during the Maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

The three most important daily requirements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are: fluids, Protein and Vitamins. food is not primary. You body will convert your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. So after surgery concentrate on these 3 basics. After surgery your taste buds may change and Protein shakes that you find acceptable now may taste awful after surgery. So be willing to experiment. You may lose your ability to swallow even medium size pills and Vitamin. So you might purchase a pill splitter and pill crusher. The following article describes my experience after RNY surgery. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Congratulations and good luck on your upcoming surgery. Let us know if we can be of any help.

Yep! Summer is finally here. It was a cold spring but now the heat is upon us. Let's see! I split and stacked a winter supply of firewood last week. Dug a trench so my bottom lands could drain properly. My garden is doing well. I planted a row of kale and it is growing like weeds. I don't know what to do with the stuff. Wife is making smoothies with it. She is also making Zuppa Toscana Soup which is quite good. I am thinking about drying and vacuum packing the stuff. I can't wait until my cherry tomatoes are in. Should only be a week or two now. I use it in my chili. Had a new Water softener put in this week and fixed the refrigerator. Planted a few fruit trees that were on sale. We have the grandkids next week and my wife has a whole itinerary or places to go and things to do. Oh yeah I almost forgot, I fabricated a solar panel framework and installed it and put the solar panels in. So all I have left is installing the converters and wiring and it should be good to go. We had a little rain last week. We had three and a half inches. Some of it came on heavy, so the water flooded over my bridge from end to end and dragged a bunch of small logs and wood and a small tree (roots and all) onto the bridge. I had to clean up that mess.

I have found most of the advice from my surgical team and nutritionist to be sound. But that leaves many questions unanswered or partly answered. Although I think they have the "weight loss" phase well covered. The advice is generally almost nonexistent in the "maintenance" phase. Individuals have to make judgement calls. Is this a serious problem? I have these symptoms. What should I do? If they call their surgeon's office every time the slightest abnormality occurs, they will drive their doctors crazy. Problems always seem to happen on weekends or holidays when the surgeon's office is closed and their staff are away. They have to make educated guesses. They need a personal touch. There are many areas of practical advice given, such as recipes for meals, what to pack for surgery, when can I go back to work, when can I start lifting weights again.

Good luck on your surgery. Make sure that you have a good before photo, so that you will have something to compare it with after surgery. Many people do not see the amount of weight they lose, because we blind ourselves to our obesity. So when the weight comes off, we have no comparison. Don't rely on the photos taken by the surgeons office. Have your own.

The three most important elements after surgery are to meet your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. At around 2 months post-op RNY gastric bypass, you have a choice. Your protein requirement is a combination of the protein from your meals combined with the protein from supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). In the beginning your meal volume is minuscule. But around 2 months, it begins to start to add up. If you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, you can begin to offload your reliance on protein shakes. This is important because your shakes contain calories. Over the first year and a half post-op I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, down to 1, and then finally none. This is what broke my stalls.