JamieLogical

AMEN! I see sooooo many people on these forums every day complaining about their "slow" loss. Hell, I've been one of those people! But this race to the finish line is a remnant of our old diet mentality. In the past, when we have tried to lose weight, we have wanted to lose it fast, because we wanted to be "done" with our diet. We'll never be done with WLS. We have permanently altered our digestive systems in such a way that we can never fully return to our old habits. And we have to work every single day to get in our Protein and Water and exercise. That will never stop. When we get to goal, we still need protein and water and exercise. So what is the rush? Why does it matter if it takes 6 months or 16 months? I know it can be frustrating. I've lost weight faster "on my own" in the past too. I've been in a stall for over a month now and it's can be pretty trying at times to stay motivated to keep on track with my food and exercise. But the great thing now is I'm not gaining. In the past, had I reached this point on my old diets, I'd be regaining like crazy. At least this is just a stall.

You've lost 13 pounds in 3.5 weeks and you're losing your mind? I don't understand.

If you do get a drink, have it BEFORE you eat. I can usually drink fluids right up to the time I eat (supposed to stop 5 minutes before, but don't always), but I usually can't drink again until a good 40 minutes after I eat. As for food, order an appetizer or soup/chili. Ask for a to-go box right away so you can portion out the right amount of food and then put the rest in the box.

A few days out, protein shakes and yogurt were pretty much the only things I was allowed (along with water, of course). I was also allowed broth. I strained different kinds of broth-based soups, rather than just having plain broth for the extra flavor.

You will go into "starvation mode" if you keep up that level of exercise without increasing your calorie intake. You do NOT want to be burning more calories through exercising than you consume in a day. That is a form of anorexia called "Anorexia Athletica". You do need a daily deficit to lose weight, but most of that deficit should be coming from your basal metabolic rate, NOT additional exercise. Try to make sure you are at LEAST eating as many calories as you are burning through exercise.

There was a thread a while back about dizziness a few months post-op. I finally went to my PCP on Tuesday and she is attributing my dizziness to low blood pressure. My blood pressure has ALWAYS been normal and even ventured up into the pre-hypertension range. I would say in my entire life, it's always been 120-135 over 70-85. At the doctor's office on Tuesday, they took it multiple times while sitting, standing, and lying down and it was about 95 over 65. The dizziness has been an issue for a couple of months now, especially when I go from sitting to standing or lying down to standing. But sometimes I feel dizzy just when I'm sitting still. She ordered a bunch of blood work and I got the call this morning that everything came back normal. She checked my b12, thyroid, Iron, electrolytes, etc. Now it's just a mystery and I'm hoping to go back next week for further examination. Anyone else experience anything like this? If it's nothing that would show up in blood work, what else could it possibly be?

Just so you know, I was told no chips or anything crispy until THREE MONTHS post-op because the sharp bits could damage my stomach. And here you are eating them more like three DAYS post-op. It's just really scary that you would put yourself at risk like that. I am glad you are going to talk to your therapist. You need to take care of yourself!

I take 20mg omeprazole (generic Prilosec) twice daily. Once in the morning and once before bed. I am 8 months post-op.

I agree with the other poster who said this is outright self-harm. You can do real, serious damage to yourself trying to eat solid foods this soon after surgery. You risk opening your stomach along your staple line before it's had a chance to heal. You REALLY need to pull it together and talk to your surgical team immediately.

Exactly. You are not gaining fat. You are retaining Water. Edit: Just for some perspective. It takes 3500 excess calories to gain a pound of fat. Meanwhile, even if you are getting the bare minimum of water, you are drinking 4 POUNDS of water a day. If you retain just 1/4 of that, you will see a fluctuation of 1 pound on the scale.

I lost 14.8 pounds in my first month. Averaged about 6 pounds a month since then.

I eat about an hour and a half before I run. I have greek yogurt with a little granola or kashi cereal mixed in, so the carbs can fuel me through the run and then I have a high-protein dinner shortly after running.

Well, I'm completely addicted to Quest Bars, so I don't know if I should recommend them, since they are so addictive. I tried Power Crunch earlier this week and it was okay, but not a Quest Bar by any stretch. The main issue I had with them was the low protein (comparatively) and the high fat/calories. My nutritionist doesn't want me having that much saturated fat. 6 grams of saturated fat is kind of a lot. But, on the other hand, the main advantage they have over Quest Bars is that they don't use "fake fiber" to keep the net carbs low.

I definitely wasn't getting in ALL my water and protein just a few days post-op. I did my best to focus on water first. My nutritionist recommended trying to get 1 ounce every 15 minutes. Marching in place while sipping helped some.

You definitely shouldn't compare yourself to others. That'll drive you crazy in a hurry! My starting weight was much lower than yours, but I "only" lose 41.2 pounds in my first 5 months post-op.

Has it only been 2 weeks since your surgery or are you saying that you haven't lost much weight in the past two weeks? If it's only been two weeks since your surgery, I hope you aren't working out too hard. You need to recover! You should just be walking. If you are saying you haven't lost weight in the past couple of weeks, then that's perfectly normal. Everyone goes through stalls. Especially if you have increased your workouts, your body will retain Water to repair your muscles when you start working out harder.

@@Bluesea71 Well you can see my belly button at least in some of my gallery pics. from far away, it looks pretty much like a normal belly button to me? Up really close, you can see a little scarring inside where the old belly button "tube" was stitched to the new belly button hole.

Sounds to me like you are taking much too high a dose of B12. I was told to only take 500 mcg daily.

Congrats on your progress so far. It sounds like you are doing great, so no wonder you are happy!

I had to experiment with various protein drinks post-op, because my tastes for them definitely changed and some were less pleasant than others for my new sleeve. The ones I ended up drinking were EAS AdventEDGE Carb Control, which I bought at Walmart and Target. Another thing you can try to do is add unflavored whey protein powder to your soups and yogurts. Just be careful when adding it to soup. If the soup is too hot, it can cause the powder to curdle.

@@Bluesea71 I'll see if I can get my husband to take some photos of my TT scar tonight. It's funny to me NOW that people are so concerned about the scars, but I remember back when I was researching plastic surgery, how worried I was about the scars as well. Now I am so used to them and feel they are so worth the trade-off, that it seems silly to me that people who haven't gone through PS worry about them so much. My scar is a VERY small price to pay for my flat, tight stomach! As for implants, it's the same way. Like you, I was all freaked out about having a foreign object inside of me, but now they are truly a part of me and I was miss them DESPERATELY if I had to have them taken out. In fact, I need a revision due to the malpositioning of my left implant after my weight re-gain and re-loss. One of the surgeons I got a consultation from wanted to remove my implants entirely and wait at least 6 weeks before replacing them. The idea of just going 6 weeks without my implants had me in a complete panic!

It still sounds to me like you are probably not eating enough. I agree with the others who are encouraging you to weigh and track your food for a bit. It's not something you will/should have to do forever, but it would be a good way to just get a sense of how much you are eating and then go from there. I don't track my food with any regularity, but I will occasionally "spot-check" by tracking for a couple of days, just to make sure I really am eating around the amounts I *think* I am.

I can't help you with the rash, but I think the thirst could be a couple of things. First of all, are you getting all your water in? I know it can be really hard immediately post-op, just because it's tough to physically drink much at one time. Also, if you are 4 weeks out, you might be on solid foods now, which means no drinking for long periods of time before and after eating, which could definitely make you thirsty. Another potential culprit is acid. Are you on a PPI?

I feel your pain. I have only lost 2.2 pounds so far in the month of April, with just a few days to go. I've been working out 5-6 times a week. I am in Week 7 of my Couch to 5k training, now running 25 minutes non-stop! I just progessed to the next highest weights in my upper body strength training. And the scale won't budge! It's such a jerk! On the bright side though, I take my measurements on the 24th of every month, so I did that last week and I was down inches from several areas from my March 24 measurements. Still, that scale is a jerk!

Those EWL averages are just that, AVERAGES. There are plenty of people who lose 100% or more of their excess weight with sleeve and bypass. There are a lot of people who only lose maybe 30-40%. Either surgery is just a tool. You still have to eat right and do the work. If you are 100% complaint with either surgery, I have no doubt you could lose all of your excess weight. The main difference is that RNY is malabsorbative. So you are physically incapable of absorbing all of the calories you eat. The same exact patient with the same exact level of compliance will lose more with RNY, because of the passive element of the malabsorption.