JamieLogical

Well, I am to the point now where I think I'm going to have to call my doctor on Monday. I'm down to 154.6 now from 163 on May 6. So over 8 pounds in 15 days. I wasn't even losing weight this fast when I was *trying*! I'm still not eating as frequently as I should and what I do eat is going straight through me. I don't know if/when I've ever had this level of stress, worry, and anxiety in my life! There are all the logistics of the divorce.... listing and selling our house, sorting out finances, making plans for living on my own..... Then there is just the constant worry for my husband. He is not taking this well at all and I feel so badly for him. I hate that I am the source of his pain and there is nothing *I* can do to help him other than urge him to seek help and support elsewhere. Is next therapy session isn't until Thursday and I don't know how he is going to make it until then. He's barely functional.

The acid might be cause for concern. I would call your nutritionist to check.

You still likely need to take vitamins because the amount of food you can eat is restricted and since you are putting Protein first, you aren't likely getting as many nutrients from fruits and vegetables. I personally eat pretty much ZERO fruits and vegetables, so I am religious about taking my bariatric multi-Vitamin twice a day! Fortunately, my surgeon never required me to do a liquid or chewable. I have been taking capsules since 7 days post-op.

Sneezing does seem to be a pretty common symptom of "fullness" around here. I have seen many people post about it. As for getting so full on liquids. That is temporary. As @@Proud2BMe said, that is due to internal inflammation and swelling. Around 2 weeks post-op you should notice a significant lessening of that and be able to get fluids in more easily. Of course, by then you will likely be on to purees and soft foods and those WILL trigger your restriction.

Have you reached your goal weight? If not, there is no reason you can't continue to lose after a year out. I reached my goal weight right at one year, but I am now 8 pounds below goal at almost 21 months post-op. I eat about 2000 calories a day, but I do heavy cardio as i just ran my first half marathon and I'm now in training for a full marathon. My restriction is still pretty string I can only eat 3-5 oz. of meat at one sitting, but I do eat more frequently now (6-8 times a day) to get my calories up and not keep losing.

@@VSGAnn2014 I am already addressing some of those things. I am actually still doing great with hydration, because I have my Water bottle pretty much glued to my hand 24/7 and that hasn't changed. sleep was a BIG problem about a week ago, but I have now gotten to where I can at least fall asleep shortly after going to bed. My problem now is that once I wake up, I'm awake. So I am waking up earlier than usual. My husband and I are going to see a therapist tonight. That's actually CAUSING me some anxiety at the moment, but I am hoping that once we've started, that will no longer be the case. I have eaten lunch out with friends/family every single day this week. Trying to keep myself distracted/occupied and lean on other people. I also signed up for a MeetUp for coffee tomorrow night. That's something I've never done. Coffee with a bunch of strangers! But I am looking forward to it. And I met a new potential running buddy yesterday. We are going to try to get together for a group hill run next Tuesday with a local running club. So definitely trying to be more social and not isolate myself.

It's not clear exactly what you are trying to accomplish here. You can't "spot lose" weight by targeting specific areas with exercise. So if you are hoping to "encourage" your body to burn fat from your belly specifically, that can't happen. If you are looking to tone up, there are a million and one exercises you can do. Make sure to do ones that work all parts of your core, not just your abs. If you are worried about loose skin, there's pretty much nothing you can do about that except stay hydrated, moisturize daily, and take your vitamins.

You will likely get to a point after a few months where you can enjoy food again. Obviously you won't be eating as much of it as one time, but it is possible to enjoy what you are eating. I still very much enjoy food, because I am careful to make my limited space count! I don't "waste" space on things that don't taste great and help fulfill my nutritional needs.

Well, I am definitely failing at keeping/getting my calories up. As of this morning, I have lost 6.4 pounds in under two weeks! On Friday, May 6, I was at the top of my bounce range, weighing in at 163. This morning I was down to 156.6. I'm now well under the bottom of my acceptable bounce range. And the stress situation is probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better!

@@JamieLogical I had a c section and then an open hysterectomy - is that the area where the TT scar is? just curious in case I get a wild hair down the road and decide to have a TT Here are some pics of my TT scars:

I am planning a spiral thigh lift. It will create new scars from my glutial crease, along my pelvic crease and then going up to where my tummy tuck scar is, but I won't end up with any scars down the inside of my leg, which means I can pretty much cover all of the scars with a pair of underwear, like I already do with my TT scars. This PDF has some diagrams and photos that make it clear where the new incisions will be: https://www.elpasoplasticsurgery.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/spiral-lift-3.pdf

I had to give up coffee for 30 days post-op, due to the acid being so harsh on my healing stomach. I actually gave it up at the start of my pre-op diet just so i wouldn't be going through withdrawal post-op.

Awesome! And a belated congrats on reaching Onederland!

@@Pup Some people actually have dumping syndrome on their list of reasons in favor of RNY. The problem there is that there is no guarantee you will have it at all or that it will last past the first few months. So relying on it as a deterrent from eating sweets could be a mistake.

@@Olena808 That's not mine, just a picture I found on Google. But you can get motivational Water bottles on Amazon, like this one: http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0174W87SS You can also just make your own with any 32 oz. bottle and a Sharpie.

Can I PLEASE have the recipe for that! Lol Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using the BariatricPal App It's on this page, along with some other great recipes: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

This is pretty much my entire existence right now!

@@applejenn It doesn't seem to help with loose skin from the little research I've done. It seems to mostly be a possible alternative to lipo.

No, don't be! This is good! I want to hear about how other people are dealing with stress (or not, as the case may be) a while out from surgery. When real life kicks in, there are a whole new host of issues that we don't really have to deal with as much in the first year or so.

@@VSGAnn2014 Thanks, as always, for your words of wisdom. I will try to keep them in mind over these next few days/weeks.

I have always enjoyed the dichotomy of people saying WLS is the "easy way out" and in the next breath talking about how someone "failed" at WLS.

I thought cool sculpting was simply an alternative to liposuction. A way of killing fat cells, not anything to do with skin? Found this quote from a doctor: "CoolSculpting's primary purpose is to reduce fat cells and volume. You do risk additional skin laxity from the treatment, particularly if it's already pre-existing." That leads me to believe that coolsculpting isn't intended as an alternative to a tummy tuck, which is primarily to remove excess skin and repair the ab muscles. Liposuction is only a tiny part of the tummy tuck procedure and isn't even necessary in some cases.

@@Babbs Luckily I have the marathon looming in September to keep me on track with my exercise. I know if I fall behind in my training, there is no way for me to catch back up. So I am at least pretty set in my routine there. I think that now that I'm back at work for the week, it will be a little easier to stay on my normal schedule for eating too. Over the weekend it was a real mess. And I'm worried that my evening routines are going to be pretty thrown off too if my husband and I aren't eating dinner together and we are working on the things we need to work on moving forward. I will just have to keep tracking everything and really concentrating on keeping on schedule with food. It's tough when you can't just "make up" for not eating all day by having a big meal or something. I was great when I was in a normal routine, but that's all out the window now and there's the whole emotional aspect on top of that. Tough times ahead, I fear.

No matter how you break it down, weight loss still boils down to energy in versus energy out. By putting protein first, relying on your restriction, avoiding grazing, not eating slider foods, not drinking your calories, not eating and drinking at the same time, and staying as active as possible, things should even out pretty well for most people. If, however, regain or stalls become an issue, it is DEFINITELY a good idea to closely examine calories and macronutrients to see what might be going on. In a perfect world, we could all eat our protein, walk a couple miles a day, and happily maintain at our ideal weight. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world and it is easy for things to go awry. So having as much information as you can to be able to identify the problems and work to improve them is the way to go.

If you have pre-existing health issues, such as acid reflux or diabetes or anythign that would require you to lose the weight extremely quickly, then RNY might be the best option. Otherwise, I would go with sleeve. Since I didn't have any comorbidities and my starting BMI was just over 40, I felt like I didn't need as "extreme" a solution as RNY. Here were my main concerns about RNY for myself: low starting BMI, no real need for the malabsorption hated the idea of my intestines being rerouted hated the idea of my unused stomach staying inside my body where it could get ulcers or cancer and not be accessible with a normal endoscopy more joins meant more potential for leaks didn't want to lose the use of my pyloric valve saw no need to commit to a lifetime of malabsorption, when restriction would be sufficient didn't like the idea of dumping syndrome the idea of my pyloric valve still being over there attached to my old stomach and opening and closing based on signals from my pouch really weirded me out higher risk of late onset complications years down the road