ready2B

I had my RNY 6 months ago and still haven't had a single episode of dumping. So, not everyone will have issues with it. If you eat healthy anyway, it shouldn't be something you have to worry about. If you don't, it might be a good reminder!

About three weeks out I got very inexplicably moody. It really didn't bother me that people around me could eat normally - it just bothered me that I couldn't and I was afraid I would never be able to enjoy even the basics ever ever again I'd sometimes just sit at the table & start crying halfway through my tiny 1/4 cup of yogurt. At that point, I had a lot of nausea and trouble with a bunch of foods - but it was temporary and now at 5 months, I can really eat anything with no issues. But it was more than that. When you go through a major surgery like we have, your body's hormones get all out of whack for a bit. Understanding that helped me keep things in perspective. You also are eating a LOT less calories so fatigue might also be a factor in the emotions. I am sure your doc will check all your blood work & Vitamin levels at your appointment to see if anything needs to be adjusted. Hang in there - this is just a little blip in the road and things will get better very soon!

Hi all! We are all hitting the 5 month point this month. Wow, how time flies! I've been doing well - weight loss has been very slow at times but then I went through a inexplicable time where I lost almost 12 lbs in 2 weeks after only losing 10 lbs total in the two months before. Then another 2 week stall. So, I just keep on doing what I am supposed to and hope the weight keeps coming off, even though it is more by "fits & starts" than any steady rate. The best part is that I overnight dropped from a 3x in plus sizes to an XL in ladies, which thrills me to no end! I had to haul a ton of clothes to Goodwill and go buy something that wouldn't fall off! I am also very happy that I don't seem to have any issues with any particular foods anymore. It was rough the first couple of months and I worried that I would never be able to eat meat, yogurt, cottage cheese, and a dozen other things. Now everything seems to go down fine, but that's also a bad thing or it could be. So far, I am still working very hard to eat healthy but I do understand I will have the potential to fall off the wagon if I don't make healthy my highest priority for the rest of my life. So, I am working NOW on any issues I have with food that could lead me to bad habits again. One of them in the past was the whole "all or nothing" mentality - that anything that tasted good had to be BAD and therefore I either would avoid it completely and feel deprived or I would eat it like it was my last time ever to have it on earth! Now, I am trying to find a really good balance of moderation that I can live with. My husband's birthday was this week and birthday cake always was a huge temptation for me in the past but I was very happy with a teeny sliver of it so I got a taste. I was pleased that I didn't have to deprive myself and feel resentful or eat a huge chunk and feel guilty - that there as a place in between that was healthy and satisfying and where I could feel really good about myself.

Thanks all! @@Rocky1 - I think what you recommended is what I will do since I have the ability to monitor my AHI with each adjustment. It has been less than 1 for quite a while, in fact recently it has been as low as .1 so I am sure I can safely reduce the pressure as long as I keep watching the data. Once I get down to 4mm H20 then I will request a sleep study to make it official since that is the lowest pressure used.

Hi all! @@Tootles1975 - you are doing great - almost 100 lbs off! I see you are almost at your halfway mark. Me too! (From my high weight before my surgery - had 151 lbs to lose total.) It's exciting to see our BMI coming down too, isn't it? I haven't had the foamies in the past month (knock on wood!) but the last few times I did it was because I ate too fast or took one bite too many. I really really hate that feeling so now avoid it at all costs! I am doing well. At my 3 month checkup, I had only lost 10 lbs since my 1 month checkup so I was pretty discouraged. Only 10 lbs in 2 months is not what I expected! My NUT & Dr. were both very supportive though and told me to just keep doing what I was doing. Good advice since I've lost another 20 lbs since then (a little over a month ago.) Doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason as to why i lose so slow at times and what makes it finally pick up again. But as long as the overall direction is DOWN, I am happy. I am finally (knock on wood some more!) at a point where it seems I can eat just about anything without any issues. Of course there are things I haven't tried yet like something with a ton of sugar or deep fried things, but I am not planning on eating those anyway. But normal everyday healthy foods seem to all go down well and I am happier to have a decent variety now. I am focusing on getting at least a 1 to 10 ratio of grams of Protein to calories in most things I eat since that helps me meet my protein goal but stay within about 800 calories a day. chicken has the highest ratio - almost 3 to 10 - so now that I can tolerate it well, I try to eat a little almost everyday because that frees up some of my calories for things I like but that aren't super packed with protein. What differences physically have you seen so far? I can go up and down stairs SO much easier. Walking doesn't kill my feet & knees. My back pain is a thing of the past. And public bathroom stalls seem to have doubled in size!!

@@kndoster - Sounds like your surgeon is one of those doctors who is not a gifted communicator! I've had a few of those over the years. I had an orthopedist who was a total jerk every time I saw him, but he fixed my foot better than anyone else around, and that was the job I needed him to do. It's tougher with something like WLS because we also need ongoing followup and emotional support too through all this. We aren't done when our incisions heal like we are with most surgeries. Most of us will see our surgeons only 2-3 times more after the surgery, so don't worry too much about him. It's probably not too unusual for him to be a bit disconnected from the post-op side since his job is more of a mechanical process (cut, move things around, sew, done!) So I hope you have a good nutritionist who can help support and guide you and cheer you on as you continue with your journey because you will need that for years. You will get the "real scoop" of how things go for real WLS patients from the NUT or from a WLS support group. You are doing great BTW! You have the hardest part behind you.

I had RNY 4 months ago and was able to go off of 8 of my 9 medications. I've felt great and have had no complications. My labs at my 3 month appt were excellent. My blood pressure has been stable at around 120/80 or lower for the past couple of years including the past few months when I've been down to only the one blood pressure med. But then for the last week my pressure has suddenly spiked to as high as 169/106 for no apparent reason. No undue stress, eating healthy, getting plenty of fluids, taking my Vitamins religiously. I've added back in my other 2 blood pressure meds but no improvement. Has anyone else has this happen and if so, what was the cause and what helped?

I went to the doctor today (a walk-in clinic - couldn't get it to see my PCP) and the doc there was pretty concerned. I had also had severe headaches that woke me up in the middle of the night the past week. So he did the kitchen sink approach and did an EKG, a head CT scan to rule out neurological stuff, and drew blood to test thyroid & kidney functions. Those are the things that can cause a sudden spike in blood pressure. Also, I am not dehydrated, which could also cause problems. My EKG & CT scan were fine, so now I have to wait until next week for blood test results. In the meantime, I am to increase my BP meds and keep monitoring it. The good news is that it likely has nothing to do with my WLS or how well I am eating. I'll keep you posted just in case this comes up for anyone else.

Howdy! I'll chime in here. First of all, "stall" is just a word and it has different meaning to different people so it wouldn't be surprising if your surgeon had his own meaning for it that doesn't jive with what you would consider a stall. The semantics really don't matter. What does matter though is his assumption that if people don't lose a certain amount of weight in a specific amount of time, they must not be following instructions and doing what they are supposed to be doing. In his practice, he's probably seen a lot of that - so take it with a grain of salt. Maybe he just wants to nip any excuses in the bud before people start using them. Which I suppose might be good for some people but not a good approach with everyone. But the problem lies with the patients who ARE doing everything as instructed and still don't lose X number of pounds in X number of weeks. There ARE some reasons why that might not happen, some of which people mentioned above, and those things might correct themselves by the next week and the scale will move again. When I went for my 3 month followup, I had only lost 10 lbs since my 1 month followup. I was so upset! I had stayed within one lousy lb for 2 weeks then had been constipated for the previous 4 days and had gained back 4 lbs right before my weigh-in! It was really frustrating to feel like I would be judged by that number on that one particular day and thought of as not doing what I should when I know I was doing everything as instructed. Fortunately I have a great NUT & doctor who both reassured me these things happen and within the next few days I lost that 4 lbs again and more. That was a month ago and I've lost another 17 lbs since not changing a thing. Go figure. Those things DO happen! Most of the time, you won't really be able to pinpoint any rhyme or reason, so just keep doing what you should be doing and the scale will move again. However, there are also some rare reasons why someone might not lose. Body chemistry could be totally whacko. Hormones, thyroid, edema, a growing tumor, or any number of other scary things. Your labs would help the doctor see if there is something crazy going on then, so those aren't mysteries but are not because the patient isn't doing things right. But since those are really rare, don't think zebras when you aren't losing for a week or two. But mainly,just don't dwell on what your doc said. Just focus on your own journey and enjoy the ride! In a year from now, you won't even remember how much you lost the second week. When you get to your goal, it won't matter at all anymore how fast you got there!

My NUT said to just try to keep my number of carb grams less than the number of Protein grams each day.

At one week postop, I think you should call your doctor with any kind of fever, whether it is related to your surgery or not. Better safe than sorry! Get well soon!

You can certainly try! 10 years ago I lost 92 lbs on Weight Watchers. To do that, I had to use extreme discipline and didn't cheat once in the year and a half it took me to get to my goal. But being on a restrictive diet for that long has its price. After I got to my goal, I started gaining weight back while still eating only about 1000 calories a day! It was incredibly frustrating to still be doing everything right and yet gain it all back along with another 60 lbs. I had done this same thing several times - lost large amounts of weight by restrictive dieting only to gain it back and more. So that's what prompted my decision to have weight loss surgery. I needed something to happen that was different from all the times I had tried on my own to lose weight and keep it off. What makes weight loss surgery (specifically RNY) different than just dieting is (1) the smaller capacity which physically limits your calorie intake when your willpower gives out, (2) the drastic decrease in the production of hunger hormones, (3) the physical "reboot" of your metabolism, (4) dumping if you eat foods that are too high in fat or sugar, and (5) some degree of malabsorption. So all of these things together give me a much higher chance of long term success than dieting alone did. You may be able to find some inexpensive insurance that will cover the surgery where the premiums are less than what you would pay in a payment plan for surgery. Good luck to you whatever you choose.

Congratulations! Be sure and write down any questions you might have since it's easy to forget them when you are there. Good luck with your insurance approval. Keep us posted!

Hi there. I had my RNY on 11/10/14 and I've lost 41 lbs since then so I understand the frustration of slow weight loss and plateaus. It seems I've had more days of the scale staying the same than I have days where I lost. I went into this with the expectation that the weight would just fall off, but it has never been like that for me in the past. I've always been a very slow loser. But the thing everyone keeps reminding me of is "would you have lost 40+ lbs by now if you hadn't had the surgery?" Same question to you - would you have lost 45 lbs in 2 months? Have you ever in your life been able to lose that much in 2 months? Probably not! So, be proud of your progress so far and keep on doing what you are doing. This isn't a race. You will see lots of people posting weight losses that are greater than yours in a shorter amount of time. But you don't know their history. You don't know how heavy they were to begin with, how much they have yo-yo dieted in the past, how much they exercise, how young they are, what other health issues they might have, etc. There are SO many factors that determine how fast or slow we lose - and comparison will only discourage you. Of course, we usually only compare ourselves with those who are losing faster, not those who are losing slower! And I guarantee you, there are those (myself included) who lose a lot slower. Everybody is different and every body is different. Comparing your progress with someone else's is really like comparing apples to cats! If your doctor is pleased with your progress then please try to be happy with it too. You've done great! Keep up the good work. Two years from now, how long it took you to get to your goal won't matter at all anymore!

When I am going out for a meal, I always check the restaurant's nutritional info online before I go so I can make an informed choice of what my best options are. It's quite surprising sometimes - often I find that what I think would be low calorie and nutritious isn't at all and then other times something I think would be quite decadent is actually the best choice for me. Even if you can't find info about that specific restaurant, you can still do some research on things that most places will serve (such as typical Breakfast items, etc) so you have a least a general idea what to go with.

I am only 3 months out so I haven't been to too many functions with family & friends, but so far everyone has been pretty supportive. However, I don't depend on them to provide me with food I can eat. I make sure I take along with me high Protein, low calorie foods so no matter what is served, I know I can take care of myself and my needs. When I am going out with friends, I check the menus online first and decide ahead of time what I can order. I had a potluck dinner to go to and since I had no idea what others would bring, I brought a dish I knew I could have even if there was nothing else appropriate for me. So far, this has worked out really well. One of my daughters is a vegan and she has always had this mindset that if she is the one with the special diet needs, it is her job to make sure she has what she can eat, not the job of others. Too many people misunderstand what foods are vegan, so if she doesn't want to get stuck with her only choices being fish or cheese drenched veggies, she knows she needs to be very proactive. So I do the same thing now.

DId you look all in and under your bed? Maybe it slipped off while you were asleep. At any rate, congratulations on your weight loss and on your wonderful husband!

I can't handle the sweet Protein drinks so I really like Unjury's chicken Soup. I also like Bariwise hot cocoa because it is never gritty and not overly sweet. Maybe it is just mixing it with hot Water instead that helps - who knows. I also like that both of those are really low in calories too - only 100 for the chicken soup & 80 for the hot cocoa. Because they are mixed with water, no extra calories from adding milk. They are both 15 grams of protein, which isn't as high as some, but since I actually like them I am more likely to drink them every day.

First of all, I think I have the same mother as a few of you! Must be some correlation between how crazy they are and how we ended up at this place, right? I hate how my body, weight, what I eat, etc becomes public topic of conversation once people know I've had surgery or am on a diet. To me, it is just as invasive as if they had kept asking, "How much money do you make? How much did you spend this week? What do you spend it on? What is your bank balance now?" You'd never dignify those questions with an answer, would you? Someone, I can't remember who, said the best way to diffuse personal questions is to just look at them a bit incredulously like "wow, I can't believe you would ask me that!" and then maybe either say "sorry, that's a bit too personal" or just change the subject. They will get the message that they are being intrusive and they won't ask you again. But if you give them an answer, you've given them permission to continue to ask more. You do teach people how to treat you, and you also are teaching them how to treat the next person in your shoes.

You can Google "protein powder" and email the companies who sell different brands and a lot of them will send you a free sample. I got plenty that way, which was good because I ended up not liking most of them after my surgery so was glad I hadn't spent a lot of money on them. Most of the companies that sell bariatric supplies are more than happy to send you samples, not only of protein mixes but vitamins and other things.

You've also lost a lot more weight than I have in less time - so that might have something to do with it. I am losing weight painfully slow right now and would gladly lose some hair in exchange for losing some more weight! What a crazy ride this is!

How much Protein are you eating a day? I am right at 3 months and I haven't started losing any hair yet. I also take 10,000 mcg of Biotin and get in around 60 gms of protein a day.

I only had to do pureed foods for a week - and I was only able to get in about 350-400 calories a day that first week. Everyone is different though - you might want to ask your nutritionist to see what she recommends. Mine said at that stage to only focus on Protein & liquids and not worry about calories. Edited to add: As far as cups go, I was drinking 1-2 Protein shakes (1 cup each) a day plus maybe able to eat only three 1/4 cup servings of food so not very much! But remember this was only week one - by the second & third weeks (soft food stage for me) I was able to eat a lot more.

My insurance didn't require a preop diet, nor did my surgeon - and neither depended on what my BMI was. (Mine was right at 50 though it made no difference.)

I am three months out and so far my husband and I have each done our own things when it comes to meals most of the time. I used to cook all our meals, so right now it is a novelty for him to fix whatever he wants whenever - and he eats a lot of frozen dinners which he actually likes right now. I don't imagine it will last for long though. It has been very helpful to me to not have to worry about what to fix to please him and still work for me during these early months. I've been able to focus on my own needs, what I can & can't eat or tolerate and my tiny little portions. There were also times I just couldn't stand the sight or smell of food, so cooking was the last thing I wanted to do. At first, the timing was also a real challenge for me since I had to time when to eat & drink pretty carefully and still be able to get everything in. Since then, the few times I have cooked a meal for us to share, I've ended up not being able to eat it (especially meat) or eat very much at all. He's been understanding and hasn't complained. I do have to confess I complained when he made brownies last night and the whole house smelled amazing and I knew I couldn't have any! If he is on board and supportive of you having surgery, hopefully he will also understand that it will take an adjustment period for you with food & meals. You two will find a "new normal" concerning meals that works for you both. Don't worry about that now, that will work itself out in time.