James Marusek

The rate of weight loss is dependent on the type of surgery. I had RNY gastric bypass and I lost my weight quickly and leveled off at 7 months. Individuals who have sleeve surgery tend to lose weight at a much slower pace but they are in the weight loss phase for a significantly longer period of time, sometimes 2 years, until they transition into the Maintenance phase. The total weight loss can be the same for both types of surgery. Sleeve patients can experience many stalls, so be patient.

I wish you the best of luck on your upcoming surgery. Check back with us when you are on the other side. Make sure you take a good before photo so you have something to compare it with as you lose weight.

I hit my first stall around month 2 or 3. The only advise I can offer is rigidly follow the program requirements for protein, fluids, vitamins, meal size, and exercise. The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass 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. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as protein shakes.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery over 3 years ago. It was one of the best decisions that I ever made. Dealing with the health insurance companies was the biggest pain-in-the-neck for the entire process. So put your blinders on and charge ever forward.

I never heard of iih, so I looked it up. iih is idiopathic intracranial hypertension. An estimated 100,000 Americans have IIH, and the number is rising as more people become obese or overweight. The disorder is most common in women between the ages of 20 and 50; about 5 percent of those affected are men. Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30, is a major risk factor. Intracranial hypertension is a condition due to high pressure within the spaces that surround the brain and spinal cord. These spaces are filled with cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF), which cushions the brain from mechanical injury, provides nourishment, and carries away waste. The most common symptoms of intracranial hypertension are headaches and visual loss, including blind spots, poor peripheral (side) vision, double vision, and short temporary episodes of blindness. Many patients experience permanent vision loss. Other common symptoms include pulsatile tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and neck and shoulder pain. Intracranial hypertension can be either acute or chronic. In chronic intracranial hypertension, the increased CSF pressure can cause swelling and damage to the optic nerve—a condition called papilledema. Chronic intracranial hypertension can be caused by many conditions including certain drugs such as tetracycline, a blood clot in the brain, excessive intake of Vitamin A, or brain tumor. It can also occur without a detectable cause. This is idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). Because the symptoms of IIH can resemble those of a brain tumor, it is sometimes known by the older name pseudotumor cerebri, which means “false brain tumor.” Although I am not a doctor, it seems to reason that if iih is caused by obesity, reversing the obesity might reverse the condition. So I would give it a little more time to jump to conclusions. Shoot towards a goal of below BMI=30.

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. I can't help with any advise on your meds. Dizziness or light-headedness when standing up occurs as a result of abnormal blood pressure regulation. Normally, when people stand, gravity causes blood to pool in the veins of the legs and trunk. This pooling lowers the blood pressure and the amount of blood the heart pumps to the brain. Low blood flow to the brain causes the dizziness and other symptoms. To compensate, the nervous system quickly increases the heart rate and constricts blood vessels, which rapidly returns blood pressure to normal before symptoms can develop. The part of the nervous system responsible for this compensation is the autonomic nervous system. http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/heart-and-blood-vessel-disorders/symptoms-of-heart-and-blood-vessel-disorders/dizziness-or-light-headedness-when-standing-up

Advice - let's see! I became lactose intolerant after my RNY gastric bypass surgery. So every time I drank milk or anything that contained lactose, it was upset stomach and a quick trip to the bathroom with diarrhea. Beware some Protein drinks contain lactose. While in the hospital they tend to give patients antibiotics to kill bacteria that you might encounter during surgery and your hospital stay. This kills not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria that resides in your gut. You need to reestablish the good bacteria by taking a probiotic. The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass 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. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein shakes. So the main focus should be on meeting your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements.

As your meal volume increases, this gives you an opportunity. If you concentrate on consuming high Protein meals, you can begin to reduce the amount of Protein shakes you consume each day, and the calories these protein shakes contain. This is how I worked my way through many of the stalls I encountered after my RNY gastric bypass 3 years ago. Your daily protein requirement is met by a combination of the amount of protein you obtain from food combined with the amount of protein from protein supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). Right after gastric bypass surgery, the volume of food you are restricted to is minuscule (2 ounces) per meal. But as you get further along, the meal volume increases. Therefore if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, you have a very important option available to you. You can start to reduce your reliance on protein supplements. I went from 3 protein shakes per day in the beginning, down to 2, down to 1, and then when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal at a year and a half, I was able to completely offload my use of protein shakes.

Some of your skin will tighten up on its own. At a minimum you might see this tightening occur before June 2017 and perhaps beyond. I would wait until you reach the maintenance phase until you decide to try alternate methods. I had RNY gastric bypass and I entered the maintenance phase around 7 months after surgery. Sleeve patients loose weight slower but over a longer period of time, sometimes 2 years. Therefore if you had a gastric sleeve in June 2016, it can be awhile until you reach the maintenance phase. Your goal weight is an artificial number. I think I set my goal weight at around 190 pounds. I would have been satisfied if I reached 190 pounds. But in the end, I dropped down to almost 140 pounds. I went from a size 3X in shirts down to a size small. I am not sure of your initial height but it might be possible that your weight might even reach the 110 to 100 pound range before you level off.

Congratulations and check back with us when you are on the other side.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery.

Congratulations. Let us know if we can be of any help.

After my RNY gastric bypass surgery, I was on full liquids for the first 4 weeks, pureed foods for the next 4 weeks and finally in week 9 I was approved for solid foods. It is difficult to transition to solid foods so there is no need to rush.

Things do get easier but that does not happen overnight. It took me 6 months to reach my happy state when all the problems seemed to melt away.

The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass 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. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein shakes.

My taste changed after surgery and even Water tasted horrible. But I found out that flavored water such as Crystal Light worked good, so that is what I relied on for fluids. The Fluid requirement is met by a combination. It is not only the water that you drink each day. But also the water you drink when you take your Vitamins and medicine. It is the milk you drink. It is the fluids content of the Protein shakes. It is the water component of the Soups you take. It is met by flavored water such as Crystal Light. It is met by sugar free popsicles. It is met by tea and decaf coffee. It is a combination of all the fluids that you consume during the day.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

One of the dangers of surgery is the development of blood clots. The symptoms of a pulmonary embolism are sudden shortness of breath or chest pain with breathing. I would recommend you let your surgeon know that you have experienced shortness of breath and pain.

Since you are at the beginning of this process, I would recommend three things. 1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success. 2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery. 3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

It is normal. hair loss normally occurs during the weight loss phase. After you transition into the Maintenance phase, your hair loss should come to an end and most of your hair will grow back in.

I do not detect that I am treated any differently after my weight-loss from RNY gastric bypass surgery three years ago. For some people who haven't seen me since surgery, they sometimes fail to recognize me. Prior to surgery, like many others, due to my obesity, I was somewhat invisible. But now I am visible. Sometimes when I am in a store shopping and the person waiting on me is on the heavy side (and therefore somewhat invisible), I look at their name tag and greet them by name. They look up and are caught off-guard and astonished and grateful that someone took the time to notice.

Congratulations.

Many health insurance policies are similar. If you do not have a hard copy of your policy booklet, you can probably look it up online. Within it you will find the exact requirements for receiving Weight Loss Surgery under your insurance plan and the percentage they will pay.

The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass 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. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein shakes.