James Marusek

When I asked my nutritionist, why some people who undergo surgery, lose a lot of weight then regain some or all the weight back. Her response was grazing. Grazing means to eat small portions of food, as appetizers or the like, in place of a full-sized meal or to snack during the course of the day in place of regular meals. A regain of 70 pounds is a lot. It will be hard to lose that much weight again. Some causes of weight gain are associated with medication. Some of the prescription medicine that can cause uncontrollable weight gain are: Anti-Depressants Birth control pills Hormones for hormone therapy Steroids Beta-blockers Anti-seizure medication Tamoxifen Some treatments for rheumatoid arthritis Treatments for migraines Heartburn medications Some medical conditions that can also cause weight gain are: Hypothyroidism Cushing's Syndrome Not enough sleep Seasonal Affective Disorder Preganancy

Did you see your surgeon about emptying your band due to all of the heartburn you have been experiencing? Did you discuss gallbladder? Are you making any progress on your pre-op diet.

Welcome. It is common for people to encounter stalls. The most important requirements after surgery is to meet your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary provided you do not exceed your meal volume or food category requirements. Weight loss is achieved by controlling food volume after surgery. Your body will convert stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Although some plans are different, at 5 weeks doesn't your plan limit you to the puree stage. Your body is in a major heal mode for the first couple months and you should not be on solids until week 9. If the 5 or 6 half pickles a day is in addition to your meals, then you are probably exceeding your meal volume requirement. It is important to follow the program if you want to maximize your weight loss during the "Weight Loss" phase.

Congratulations on you weight loss. It looks like you are still in the weight loss phase. This is a short phase and in order to maximize your weight loss during this phase I would steer clear of burger and fries until your weight loss levels out and you enter the "Maintenance" phase. Generally your goal weight is an artificial number. I think I set my goal weight at about 190 pounds initially but my body decided that it should really be much lower. It went down to 150 without much problem. Experimentation is O.K. but if you want to reap the full benefits of the surgery, stay with the guidelines.

I am 32 months post-op RNY. This article describes my experience with the "Maintenance" mode. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

My wife makes split pea Soup by adding in a ham bone and slow cooking it for several hours. So since you are on a liquid diet, it sounds like you are headed in the right direction by putting a bone in a crockpot to make a bone broth.

For the first year or so after surgery, your body is still undergoing changes. For example right after surgery I became lactose intolerant. So I could not rely on milk for my Protein. But after a couple months, my body changed and I no longer was lactose intolerant. So just keep trying and trying and much of what you ate before surgery will come back, but it may take a year or two. I am 32 months post op RNY, and I can now tolerate almost everything that I ate before surgery.

Concentrate on the basics. These are Protein, Vitamins and fluids. food is secondary. It looks like you are prepared with Quest Protein Bars and vitamins. So the next category is fluids. When I went to Europe several decades ago, I could not drink the Water - instant diarrhea. In Europe many people drink wine. The alcohol in wine kills the bacteria. But after RNY surgery, wine is a poor choice. So the best choice is water that has been boiled. This is one of the reasons why tea and coffee make a good choice. Stay away from tap water and buy bottle water or bring along a small portable ceramic water filter.

It is difficult to eat meat after surgery. Keep trying and eventually you should be able to consume it again. Here are some tips. A can of tuna fish in the beginning. If you want chicken, you must cook it until soft. For example take a chicken breast, add a bouillon cube into a pot with some Water and place on low heat for a couple hours. When the chicken reaches the point where it comes readily apart with a fork, then it is soft enough to eat. Chili is a good way to start hamburger meat. It goes down much easier and also chili contains Beans that are high in Protein. 2 months post-op RNY is generally the point when you start solids. So the transitions to solids is often a little difficult in the beginning.

Congratulations.

Didn't know that.

I have heard several people report that after RNY gastric bypass surgery, they seemed to almost be immune to the flu. They attributed this to the extensive Vitamin requirements required after RNY surgery. I am 32 months post op and the first time I had the flu since surgery was a couple weeks ago. It was fairly mild compared to several years ago when I use to get the flu every year and it would last for 3 months and then work its way into my lungs for a serious case of bronchitis. Anyways I am treating it with my own formula of essential oils and rather pleased with the results. In your case, lauraellen80, you had the sleeve and as a result do not have the same regiment of Vitamins. So in addition to the above recommendations of others, I would add make sure that you take a good Multivitamin every day if you are not currently taking them. As we get older, our bodies do not produce the same levels of vitamin in our system like when we were young and carefree. So it becomes important to supplement.

I noticed this problem once. But then I discovered that I was no longer logged in. So I logged back in and all was fine. Check your status on the extreme upper right.

After the full liquid and puree stage when solid foods entered the picture, I found that softer meals such as chili and Soups went down well. So this was my main food. I have attached a few recipes in the end of this article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

It is common to encounter problems with Protein shakes after surgery. In my opinion most taste terrible. But having said this there are a variety out there, and the key is to experiment until you find one you can tolerate. The operative word is "Tolerate". You don't have to like it, just be able to drink them. As your meal volume increases, if you concentrate on high protein meals, you will be able to reduce the number of Protein Shakes per day. I started out with 3 per day, and then as the protein from my meals increased I was able to drop to 2, then 1. And for the last year, I have not had any. (I tracked my protein intake.)

Years ago I developed a large lump in by breast. It was benign. But men also do develop lumps in their breast and sometimes get breast cancer. Note that many forms of cancer need sugar. The cells feed off sugar. So try and reduce your sugar intake now. More than weight loss is at stake here.

Generally there are three stages right after RNY gastric bypass surgery. These are full liquid, puree, solids. So when you say soft foods I suspect that you are referring to the puree stage, which are foods with the consistency of baby food. In this stage meats should be pureed in a blender or food processor. The full liquid and puree stages were so short, I do not even remember what I ate. And the meal volume was so small, it was hard to even call it a meal. But as you approach the solid stage, recipes and approaches may become important. I found that softer meals went down much easier than hard meals. Softer meals were meals like chili and Soups. Harder meals were like steaks. I also found that mixing food groups together added flavor back into my meals. So the approach that I took was to eat softer meals, ones that I made from scratch. This allowed me to fortify the meals with extra Protein. Generally my chili and soups had twice the protein than those purchase in cans from the grocery store. At the end of this article, I provided some recipes in case you wish to try this approach. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I am 32 months post-op RNY. This is my approach to the "Maintenance" phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

Immediately after RNY surgery, the three critical requirements are meeting your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fats into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. But you also need to limit yourself to the plan's meal volume limits, and types of foods. You are exceeding those volume limits and also transitioning to solids way too soon. Your stomach needs some time to heal before you transition to solids. So if you want to achieve the weight loss goals, you need to follow the plan. For the first few months after surgery, I was on 3 Protein shakes per day. Later as I transitioned into larger meal volume, I was able to back off this requirement because I focused on high protein meals. Generally Isopure has more protein than the normal protein shakes, but your body will absorb only so much protein at any given time. So I recommend you concentrate on the protein, either 3 protein shakes or 3 Isopures per day. This should also help you take the edge off the hunger. Eat all the sugar free popsicles you want.

When individuals undergo weight loss, they may undergo ketosis. When you first reach ketosis, the body doesn't really know how to regulate the fats it breaks down. As a result, it makes a lot of waste ketones, which are then released in breath and urine. As time passes, it will become more tuned and the extra ketones will reduce. Until then, make sure to drink plenty of Water to help flush out the waste. After Weight Loss Surgery, your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. But in the process your fat cells are breaking down and being expelled from your body through sweat, urine, stool, and breath. After you transition from weight loss phase into the maintenance phase, this problem should be less noticeable.

I agree with Threetimesacharm. The body changes after about a year. The intestines change and allow you to consume fats and sugars again (without dumping). They take up the slack caused by the part of your stomach that formally performed that function and was cut away after RNY surgery. So periodically experiment and see if you can now tolerate these (like milk, yogurt and cheese) without experiencing dumping syndrome. I found that softer foods such as chili and Soups went down better than harder foods such as steaks. I made my own high Protein version of these. My surgeon is noted for making the pouches small which has similarities to your condition. I included some recipes in the following. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf When I spoke to my nurse about the difficulty in eating, she said not to be constrained to 3 meals per day but that I could increase this number, because my pouch is smaller.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery 32 months ago. One of the main reasons why I choose RNY was because I had severe acid reflux (GERD). That comorbidity went into remission after surgery and remained in remission. My initial weight was similar to yours and I have lost almost 120 pounds. It is common knowledge that sleeve makes GERD worse and that is why RNY is normally recommended for this condition. It is common for individuals to experience hair loss after RNY surgery. But generally once they reach maintenance phase, their hair grows back in. I didn't experience any hair loss.

Need a little more info. Did you have RNY gastric bypass surgery? How long ago was that? This doesn't sound like dumping syndrome. Generally with dumping syndrome you either throw up for a couple hours or you have an upset stomach that leads to diarrhea. Apparently others have experienced these symptoms. http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Weight-Loss-Alternatives/stomach-pains-after-gastric-bypass/show/602284 Might be related to a gallbladder attack. GALLBLADDER ATTACK SYMPTOMS specifically Please note that if you are in severe pain and particularly if your attack symptoms are accompanied by fever DO SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY. The following symptoms are typical of a gallbladder attack. * Moderate to severe pain under the right side of the rib cage * Pain may radiate through to the back or to the right shoulder * Severe upper abdominal pain (biliary colic) * Nausea * Queasiness * Vomiting * Gas * Burping or belching * Attacks are often at night * Attacks often occur after overeating * Pain will often but not always follow a meal with fats or grease * Pain may be worse with deep inhalation * Attacks can last from 15 minutes to 15 hours

Stay safe. You might do a what-if. What if I was cornered by a Pit-Bull, what could I do to protect myself? Here is a google search response. http://www.hillrunner.com/forums/index.php?topic=3705.0 Pepper spray, bear spray, a product called Halt. p.s. Hill walking is a great form of exercise.

I would recommend walking, not jogging. In my opinion strenuous physical exercise (such as running) can catch up with you as you age causing joint damage and joint pains. You might not see this when you are young but as you get older, they do catch up with you. When I walk, I generally do hill walking. They exercise two different sets of muscles and from my perspective a really good form of exercise. Shoes are very important. As CowgirlJane said "Excellent shoes, replace often".