JamieLogical

Your best bet would be to do a version of the more strict pre-op liquid diet. Mine was: 3 Protein shakes a day, no more than 150 calories each 1 green salad with sugar-free dressing or vinegar unlimited sugar-free Jello and popsicles

Many many people opt to self-pay for various reasons. In my case, my insurance required a documented BMI over 40 for five years. Well, I had managed to lose 90 pounds on my own a couple of years prior to researching surgery and had gradually gained it back. My BMI had just crept back up over 40 when I decided on surgery. I wasn't about to wait five more years at that BMI before having my VSG. I felt like the insurance requirement was punishing me for at least having *tried* to lose the weight without surgery. You should check out the Mexico & Self-Pay forum here on BariatricPal: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/486-mexico-self-pay-weight-loss-surgery/

Thank you for explaining that. It's a really cool idea!

I would definitely recommend trying to increase your water. How do you think you are doing calorie-wise?

It is VERY important that in these early weeks you weigh/measure your food and eat on a schedule. You cannot rely on "full" or "hungry" signals from your stomach, because there was a lot of damage to your nerves with the surgery. Your surgeon or nutritionist should have instructed you on how much to eat at one time. For me, in the puree stage, it was two ounces.

This is definitely a question for your surgeon. I was on some supplements and medications prior to surgery. My surgeon told me when I had to go off of each pre-op and when I could re-start them post-op. You should go over all of this with your surgical team!

Stalls happen to the best of us, so try not to get too down on yourself. Can you give us an idea what your daily water, food, and exercise is like?

How much do you eat in a typical day. Do you supplement protein with shakes or bars? Have you had any tests or blood work done?

Liquids can't stretch your stomach. You have been misinformed.

@@triplethreat Had my first date last night and it didn't go terribly, so no horror stories yet!

My goal was set by my nutritionist. She asked me about 1000 questions about my weight history, weight loss history, activity level, etc. At first, I had hoped to get below 155, because that would put me at a "normal" BMI. I did actually get down to 153 at one point post-op, but felt uncomfortable there. So my nutritionist was right. 165 is my happy place!

@@TaureanMe Can you tell us more about when your weight loss stopped? What your eating and exercise are like? Are you gaining weight or just not losing anymore?

My guess is that a piece got "stuck". It can happen sometimes. The first time it happened to me, I was already over a year out. Just make sure you chew thoroughly and slow down your eating to avoid it in the future.

Here's what my soft food diet looked like: Breakfast: Protein shake Morning Snack: String cheese Lunch: scrambled egg or shredded meat (pulled chicken or tuna salad) Afternoon Snack: Greek Yogurt Dinner: same concept as lunch Evening Snack: Protein Shake In the very early stages I couldn't fit in the morning and afternoon Snacks, but I worked my way up to them.

Definitely don't do anything fibrous, crunchy, or with seeds.

It's only bad if you don't have a clear sense of whether or not you are meeting your daily Protein goal.

That baked ricotta is pretty much what I lived off of during my puree stage. I never once actually pureed anything!

I think we do all go through it. Especially those of us who were big for a long time. I know I still do a double-take when I am folding my jeans and I've been at goal for 16 months! Yesterday I was taking some profile pics for an online dating site (that's a whole other story!) and it was crazy looking at pictures of myself. I don't do that often at all.

I hate when surgeons put time constraints on weight loss. Everyone loses at a different pace for a variety of reasons and making patients feel bad about not losing "quickly enough" just caused undo stress. You've lost 45 pounds in 4 months! I think that's great! As long as the scale is still trending downward, what more can you ask? I do think you should try different brands and combinations of Vitamins to try to get those in. It's very important not to develop any deficiencies.

I had oral thrush right after my surgery. It can be caused by liquid anti-biotics.

Protein and Vitamins are the steps you can take to try to prevent hair loss, but you are still likely to experience some, no matter what. The causes of hair loss in WLS patients include: anesthesia rapid weight loss malnutrition stress Each of those things individually can cause hair loss. Since WLS are usually subject to 3-4 of them, it is incredibly common for WLS patients to lose hair. Another thing you should keep in mind is that hair loss comes MONTHS after whatever caused it. So if you don't take steps to prevent hair loss immediately (like getting your protein and vitamins in early post-op), there will be little you can do to stop or slow it once it has started. The best you can do is to help aid regrowth at that point. There are some things you can do that might help a little once the loss begins. Try to comb/brush your hair as little as possible. Don't use harsh chemicals, blow dryers, curling irons, or straighteners on it. Don't wash your hair every day. And cut it short so the thinning is less noticeable. I lost hair from about 3.5 months out to about 5.5 months out. I cut it shorter and I don't think anyone noticed but me. The thinning was actually less noticeable than the regrowth. Once the regrowth started, I had little baby hairs sticking up all over for a while. My hair is 100% back to it's pre-op glory now.

What does your surgeon say? Have you had tests done to determine what the issue might be? When you say you lost NO weight, do you mean right out of the gate, in the first month or two post-op even? I have definitely never heard of that happening. I have heard of people not losing as much as they hoped or only losing a small percentage and then stalling or regaining. But I have never heard of anyone not losing SOME weight in the very beginning at least.

The way I interpreted it, she's not saying it was a bad choice for her husband to go to Mexico, but it was a bad choice he to pick a surgeon that didn't offer aftercare?

I been maintaining for too long. I'm three years post op and the last two years I've been the same weight give or take a few lbs, but now I am trying to lose the rest and I simply can't. I've been eating what I wanted but now that I limit my calories (to about 1200 or so) I just can't shake this stall (or maintenance). Could it be that I am not eating enough? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App During my weight loss phase I ate 1400-1500 calories a day, hit my protein goal of 100 grams every day, ran three days a week, biked two days a week, and did strength training 5-6 days a week. I think, like you have observed from other posts, I was successful because I actually kept my calories pretty high. I never had the damage to my metabolism that a lot of WLS patients have by creating too large a calorie deficit in their weight loss phase. My only advice for someone in your position now would be to get as much protein as possible and add in some strength training. Muscle burns more calories, so if you can build some up, it should boost your metabolism a bit. But it won't be fast. Don't expect quick results. You have to do it and stick with it and have faith it will pay off in the end.

@@anonmom Definitely talk to your surgeon about all of that. I sincerely doubt he's going to go for the avocado and banana at only 4 days out. You will be okay. I think you are expecting too much from yourself too quickly. It's only been four days. I was still on clear liquids at 4 days and if I got 350 calories that was some sort of miracle. Drinking water WILL be your full-time job for the first week or two. That's completely normal. It can feel overwhelming in the moment, but you WILL get through it.