JamieLogical

I'm a little curious about why you chose Almanza in the first place. I too pray that everything goes well for you.

I hope it stops or you get it figured out. If it truly is some sort of Vitamin or mineral deficiency, it could be having other consequences to your health, beyond hair loss, that you just can't see. Sounds like you are already on top of it with your doctor and surgeon, so you should get some sort of resolution soon.

I am 5 months out and just now getting a really good grasp at looking at how much food there is, figuring out how much I can safely eat without causing myself discomfort, and only eating that amount. This is especially useful when I go out to eat, because the portions are so huge. I'll look at the whole plate, figure out what percentage of it I can actually eat, section out that amount and eat it, then get a to go container for the rest. Up until very recently, I was still overestimating how much I could eat and making myself sick/uncomfortable. It's a process, but you will get there!

Hehe! I can sympathize. This is one of my favorite cartoons of all time.

I am 5 months out now, so not much ahead of you. I was DEFINITELY an emotional eater before my sleeve. Have you seen the new weight watchers commercial? www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNPLuSx_06U That was SO me. Once I was able to eat solid and crunchy foods, I indulged in some of my old favorites. However, I have found that they didn't satisfy me the same way they used to, mostly because I was a binge eater and I just can't binge anymore. So, I have noticed that I am craving them less and less these days. Once my brain learned that those foods couldn't bring me comfort the way they had before, it stopped triggering those cravings. I do occasionally wish I could eat a whole pizza, just because I know in an abstract way that used to make me "happy", but I don't actually crave pizza anymore. Does that make sense?

to gain 10 pounds in 10 days, you need to be eating an EXCESS of 3500 calories a day. Your current 1500-1700 just cannot possibly get you there. Your best bet is to increase calories as much as you possibly can and then the couple of days before your weigh-in, eat LOTS of high-sodium foods so you retain water. You can probably gain a good 5 pounds at least from water retention.

Have you had a full bloodwork done? It seems to me like you might have a real deficiency that is causing hair loss, beyond what is normal post-op.

Ha! I love how you said you would hold your tongue and then went on for a full paragraph. I already said my peace earlier in the thread, so I won't elaborate any further, but that definitely gave me a chuckle.

Those of you who are just taking Flintstones chewables or no multivitamin at all, what do your surgeons and doctors have to say about that? How are your bloodworks looking? My surgeon insisted I take, at a minimum, a bariatric multivitamin, calcium+D3, B12, and a probiotic.

I did that preemptively. Cut my hair short at about the 2 month mark so if/when it started falling out it wouldn't be as noticeable.

I take tons of supplements. I already took a lot before I even began considering WLS and now, post-op I take even more! Multivitamin - Vitaleph Bariatric Multivitamin - twice daily (order online) Probiotic - Align - once daily (buy at the grocery store) B12 - store brand - 500 mcg - once daily (buy at the grocery store) Vit C - store brand - 1000 mg with rose hips - once daily (buy at the grocery store) coq10 - store brand - 200 mg - once daily (buy at the grocery store) Omega 3 - store brand - 850 mg - once daily (buy at the grocery store) Vit E - store brand - 500 iu - two capsules - once daily (buy at the grocery store) Beef Gelatin - Now Foods - 550 mg - four capsules - once daily (order online) Vit D3 - store brand - 1000 iu - once daily (buy at the grocery store) (WINTER ONLY) calcium citrate + D3 - store brand - 630 mg Calcium, 500 iu D3 - two capsules - twice daily (buy at the grocery store) To answer your question about calcium specifically, I just buy the generic store brand of Citrical Maximum, which I imagine you could find in most drug/grocery stores. I take two tablets twice daily, for a total of 1260 mg of Calcium and 1000 iu of D3. In the winter I take extra D3 on top of that.

That reminds me. I did start taking Beef Gelatin around 40 days post-op, but that was to help with loose skin, not my hair.

From all of the research I've done hair loss is due to the trauma and lack of Protein around the time of your surgery. As long as you are getting all of your protein and taking your supplements post-op, the hair loss is only temporary and it will grow back. My personal experience has been that I started losing a lot of hair around the 3 month mark. It seems like a LOT when I look in my shower drain and all over my bathroom floor, but it is not noticeably thinner when I look at my head and I don't think anyone else would notice it. The average human loses 70-80 head hairs a day. I would say I was losing closer to 200? I am now about 5 months post-op and the hair loss is slowing down (though still happening) and I can now see new growth all along my hairline in just the past few days. I see little baby hairs sprouting up. I never took extra Biotin (there's some in my multivitamin), because the research on whether it makes a difference for hair loss is non-existent (though there is some evidence that it strengthens hair). I have, however, worked VERY hard to get all of my protein in since I was allowed back on full liquids post-op.

I had surgery with Dr. Ariel Ortiz at the Obesity Control Center in Mexico and it was a great experience all around. You should definitely read up on the Self-Pay & Mexico forums: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/486-self-pay-mexico-gastric-sleeve-surgery/ Tons of great info on there and personal experiences with all of the various surgeons.

There's a guarantee it WON'T work. Exercised targeting specific areas can help tone muscles in those areas, but they won't reduce fat. If you carry weight in your stomach and do 1000 crunches a day, all you end up with is very strong abs with a layer of fat.

I have very thick hair (see my before pics in my gallery) and it began falling out around the three month mark. I don't think anyone besides me would notice any thinning, it's just all over my bathroom floor and in my shower drain. I joked that if hair was blood, my bathroom would look like a horror film. I'm at 5 months post-op now and the hair loss is definitely slowing down and if I look closely along my hairline, I can see tons of little baby hairs sprouting up. I cut my hair short two months post-op in anticipation of the hair loss and I think that has helped make it less noticeable.

There's no way to target weight loss. All you can do is to continue to lose weight overall and try to get your body fat percentage down.

Congrats! Just recently reached Onederland myself, but I'd been here several times over the past 5 years as I was losing and regaining weight, so it's mixed emotions for me. I am afraid I'll regain back over 200 like I have every other time I've been down here.

I had my husband take progress pics of me today, since it's 5 months out from when I had my "before" pictures taken one week before my surgery. I'm only down 39 pounds since my surgery on September 1, but I'm happy with my progress so far. I just started strength training, so hopefully I will start toning up some. You can see all the pictures in my gallery, but here are a couple for comparison:

@@CowgirlJane How often were you eating them and were you eating them in place of other meals/snacks or in addition to? I eat two a day right now and you have me worried that might be an issue down the road, so I'd really love to hear more about your experience and why you had to cut them out.

I chose "no" as my answer, as I didn't experience any nausea, dehydration, vomiting, or worse yet, a leak or infection! However, I did have oral thrush that I believe was caused by the liquid antibiotic my surgeon had me on post-op. That took a while to go away.

My tailbone has been sore all week because I finally decided to start doing some strength training instead of pure cardio for exercise. On Sunday I did various core exercises, including crunches and pendulums and since then my tailbone has been bruised feeling. I think I don't have enough cushioning over my tailbone anymore!

My husband was buying us tickets online to a concert that's not until July. At first I told him to get aisle seats. I always opted for aisle seats because I was so wide, I felt bad for encroaching on a perfect stranger's space, so if I sat on the aisle, I'd only have to encroach on my husband's space. There weren't any aisle seats available in the section he wanted to sit in and it occurred to me that by July, it won't matter at all if we're on the aisle, because I won't be too big for the seats anymore!

@@CowgirlJane Thanks for your more detailed reply. In your first post you just said you don't eat Protein bars anymore because they are high carb, which by itself didn't make a whole lot of sense. But once you spelled out your concerns about them being "snacky" or a slider food and how that became an issue for you in maintenance, I can definitely see how that could be an issue. I'm still losing and still experiencing a LOT of restriction from my sleeve, so I'm not yet to the point where I can really have any foods that aren't primary protein sources. I am looking forward to eventually being able to incorporate some whole grains and some veggies. Right now I don't have the room to eat those things and still get all my protein in. The concepts of Snacks and sliders are so alien to me right now. I'm still just eating on a schedule and I can't imagine "wasting" precious sleeve space on sliders or foods with low protein, but I am sure that will change over time as I'm able to eat more.

I lost a lot my first week, once the swelling from the surgery went down. I was down a total of 7 pounds in the first week post-op, but the following week I only lost 0.4 pounds.