Djmohr

For sure call your surgeon and get direction on this. You do not want to jeopardize your surgery date or your health.

My surgeon required I use that nasty bottle of stuff and I am glad that I did because it was nearly 10 days before I went to the bathroom again. It's always like that for me post surgery. Haha....

@@AMS3188

Hi there and Welcome! I read both of your posts and just wanted to reach out. Some of the feelings you are having are normal given you are so close to having surgery.

I also had bypass nearly 2 years ago and reached my goal in March of this year. Having this surgery is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I don't regret it for a second.

I will say it is important that you are ready for it because with it comes a lot of change needed on your part.

It sounds like you are struggling to connect with a local support group. Are you currently speaking with a therapist? That might help you through some of this especially the food addictions you refer to.

The surgery helps provide a tool but the majority of ones success is very dependent on their own food behaviors.

I would be happy to be your bypass buddy, feel free to message me directly.

Can you share your pre op diet. I was on a pure liquid diet for 14 days prior to surgery and it was hard but definately doable if you focused on one day, one hour at a time. After about day 4, it wasn't so bad anymore.

Definately need more specifics but I had Brachioplasty myself two weeks ago tonight and those first few days I could barely tolerate anything to eat. The pain was pretty severe.

Also don't be surprised if suddenly you get very hungry and cannot seem to stay satisfied. I had about 3 days where I felt like this and clearly my body needed more Protein to help heal me.

It would be good to know what kind of surgery you had. I am guessing Abdominalplasty? I could see that eating might make the pain worse with this one given the swell hell most people go through.

I am looking forward to getting my TT and BL but given how bad I swelled with my arms and the burning and itching, I am not looking forward to that recovery.

Yes. I definately have this problem and have had to learn how to control it. It becomes a problem if you begin eating more carbs and it can be a vicious circle.

I started getting it when I began eating cream of wheat with some sugar in it for Breakfast. It can be a pretty scary situation if you don't recognize the symptoms and have something prepared to deal with it.

I talked to my Bariatric team about it when it started happening and they suggested that if I am going to have cream of wheat for Breakfast, I need to have a Protein rich snack about an hour later.

That definately does the trick for me but anytime I start letting to many simple carbs or sugar in I start having trouble with it again and once it starts for the day it can be hard to get it under control. I keep glucose tablets close by.

I would say recently in the last few month I seemed to have gotten a better handle on it but my sugar has gotten as low as 36 before I figured out what was happening. it happens very fast and it can be confusing so I have found it best to limit sugar for me.

I did read that there have been some instances where someone had such a bad case they had to have their surgery reversed. I never want that to happen to me.

I am not sure about the exact percentage but the reality is you have to be accountable to make the changes for long term success.

Your best chance of losing and keeping it off is surgery. There are statics that prove this.

Those that gain their weight back, have not fully adapted to the changes required to be successful. That usually comes from not being ready.

The reason that most surgeons and insurance company's have a structured monitored diet plan that requires classes, nutritionist appointments and physcologist is so that they are sure you are ready to move forward.

Whether it be 3 months, 6 month or 12 month programs that time is necessary to begin making changes and turning them into habits.

You have to decide how bad you want it and how hard you are willing to work. The surgery is nothing more than a tool that helps you control the amount of food at any one given time. You have to drive it. You have to ensure you eat the right foods and that you don't graze all day long and eat around your surgery.

For me, this was a no brainier, but I was ready.

@@Heidijenn

You have heard this from almost everyone, at the end of the day you need to be absolutely ready to make changes in your life to get healthy.

You are so focused on what you will be giving up that you are thinking about what you will be getting.

I remember feeling the exact same way and I kept putting it off for years and years. I kept trying to lose it on my own only to gain it back and then some.

Pretty soon 250lbs turned to 260 and then jumped to 290 and then all the way to 315. I was so sick by the time I was ready that it made the wait that much harder and more emotional. My Nephrologist (kidney specialist) told me that I was looking at dialysis and possibly a kidney transplant if I did not do something about my weight. Stage 3 chronic kidney disease from obesity! I finally made up my mind that nothing and I mean nothing was going to get in my way. I was going to get healthy for both me and my family who I know loves me dearly.

That being said. Stop worrying about not ever being able to eat lobster and pizza and popcorn. You will be able to eat lobster, steak, chicken, vegetables and fruits and the funny thing is, you will actually look forward to those foods. Additionally I have had popcorn and pizza. You will find if you do this right that all the junk that you once craved won't be so important. You won't be as hungry and just a few bites will fill you.

You learn to eat to live instead of live to eat.

I love food. I savor everything i eat. I have found this whole new world where good clean food is delicious and satiating. But you gotta get all that noise out of your head and decide if you are ready.

My personal opinion is until you can do that you are not ready.

My advice is not to wait too long. I waiting about 15 years too long and did real damage to my body. Now I am the healthiest I have been in many many years. even with my damaged joints I have more energy and feel younger than I have in 15 years.

Life is grand on the other side of WLS for me, but there is no doubt I was 110% ready to make the changes necessary for me to lose my weight and I am now maintaining at 158lbs. In went from a size 26 to a size 8! I have not been that small since before I got married and had children. I was a teenage Mom and a military wife so I was younger than 19 last time I looked and felt this good.

Oh and I had homemade beef enchiladas tonight! Granted I could only eat a half of a portion but it was delicious and healthy.

Try to breathe deep and better understand what you want for your future.

Again it took a near death sentence for me to get it. My hope for you is you figure it out much sooner.

Please feel free to direct message if you would like to talk further.

I actually always feel like that about anything that I don't cook at home. It just grosses me out to the point I don't want anything.

My husband eats out a lot and he is always asking me if I want something and now I just give him that look like, are you for real asking me if I want to eat crap?

When it comes to my own cooking, I am happiest. I know exactly what is in my food and I cook about 98% clean. I do not use prepackaged foods especially if I am eating it. Every once in a while I do make a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese only because my family absolutely insists. I might eat a forkful and then remember why I don't eat prepackaged foods.

Ugh!

@@Ambie

Honestly that is kind of the way it works. Once you get through the 6 month process they a lot for time to insurance submission and then they are usually another 4 to 6 weeks out on the schedule. You are actually lucky they gave you a tentative date.

My 6 month process went exactly 9 months to the day from day to day of surgery. It's not uncommon and honestly I am now glad I had that time to get all of my changes in place. It takes a while to build a habit and I leveraged that time like crazy and I think it really helped me set myself up for success.

@@KristenLe

Yup, it is one of the sucky things for sure but I would still take the pain my arse over all that fat. LOL

Congratulations! You have done very well up pre op weight loss so far.

Glad to hear your surgery is scheduled. Do they have you doing a liquid diet in preparation?

@@Express09

LOL. You definately need to stay off the scale. You are going to fluctuate regularly. I actually laughed out loud at your comment about never seeing the scale go up again. I here to tell you that is NOT true.

I was a daily weighed. I weighed myself every single day following RNY. For me I didn't let it get to me because the reality is you are going to fluctuate. You have too much salt one day you will retain Water. It's actually interesting to track. I know from one day to the next whether or not the scale will go up or down because I weighed every day.

The issue with that is if you let the fluctuations get to you and are putting time boxes on your weight loss you are going to lose your mind.

You are not in control right now of anything but what you put in your mouth. Your body is in charge of when you lose or gain. Kind of like autopilot. All you need to focus on is putting the right things in your tummy and let your body take care of the rest. If you do that you will continue to lose weight (however some days the scale will go up....).

There was only one time when I had to put my damn scale away and that was in my 11th month post op. I had a 28 day stall and tried like hell to be patient but that one got to me. The stall broke but it was a very long month.

You have to decide if you can handle the news from the scale daily or not....if not just put it away and weigh yourself once a week at the same time of day. Or some people refuse to even weigh themselves that often. They weigh only when they see the doctor or once a month. If you follow the plan you don't need to worry about the scale.

And for the love of Peter, don't time box yourself. Your body is in charge and decides how quickly or slowly things will move. Time boxing weight loss can be one of the most demotivating things for someone trying to lose weight. It just is not good for the physche.

I hate to tell you this but it is well known that we tend to lose the weight in our behinds and it causes long term chronic tailbone pain.

I actually saw an orthopedic spine specialist last week about this exact issue.

There is a type of gel that can be prescribed. The name of it is somewhere in my office but as soon as I find it I will post it.

Anyway, I have to get this gel approved by the Bariatric team because it has NSAIDs in it but it is topical. They asked that I speak with my Bariatric team about its use because supposedly we do absorb some of it.

Anyway, it supposedly helps with this problem. After losing 151lbs, I am at goal but have a problem sitting anywhere. I even have to double up on Cocyx pillows. One is not deep enough.

I have been to PT for a year. The only thing that does help a little is if you sit more on your thighs but no one can really keep that up everywhere they sit. Tightening the butt muscles helps as well but so far, nothing has made it better. Some people end up having to have their tail bones removed if it gets too bad.

Unfortunately your butt is going to hurt.

In the long term no surgery will solve the issue of eating what we crave. The surgery regardless of which one provides a tool to help control quantity. It does not control what we choose to put in our stomachs.

I have had an addiction to sugar ever since I went on the Atkins diet nearly 20 years ago. As soon as I went off plan, I began to crave sweets. I know for me the reality is I will always have this addiction and I also know that I am the only person that can control it.

For me, occassionly I will have some chocolate. But I know that if I have it everyday, I am going to want it the next day and the day after that.

In the last 22 months I have been training myself to leverage fruit instead of sugar and simple carbs and to truly keep the sweets only for times when I just need a taste. For the most part that is working for me.

I read about so many people who have this surgery and think they can continue to indulge daily and not gain weight. I am sorry, I just don't think that can be done. Maybe just maybe in the first year but history has shown that it just doesn't work that way.

I have talked to nutritionists about this as well as physcologists. You have to get real with yourself about whether or not surgery will truly help unless you change.

And those folks that have RNY thinking the surgery will ensure you don't eat sweets. I say POOH......that does not work. For one thing after the first year your body gets used to its new system and dumping in most cases becomes a thing of the past and you are right back where you started. Oh, and the number of people that actually get dumping is something like only 30%. I am not one of them. I can literally eat anything I want with the exception of eggs. eggs still make me feel so uncomfortable that I just don't eat them.

you have received some honest feedback from previous posters and it may not be what you want to hear but it truly is the truth. You have to really look at your eating behaviors and get some help. and a support system. Many of us leverage each other when our hands are dipping in the bad of Dove Dark chocolate. (That is my own personal demon right there......)

I think about it and I crave it. So, I have fruit instead....LOL

The only Protein powder I could even tolerate was unjury and honestly I found myself not using it. Instead I ended up purchasing premier protien ready made shakes from costco. They taste great have 30gm of Protein per 11 oz. shake with only 160 calories and 1 gram of sugar.

Once I found those and realized I did not have to deal with the grit and blenders and shaker cups I simply moved on down the road.

@@iagree2shine

I am so sorry. That is truly disappointing. Don't give up, go to the state if need be.

The hernia part is even more ridiculous!

@@tbott

Welcome and congratulations on such a job well done! It is always nice to hear from folks like you that are so far out and doing fantastic.

I too had RNY nearly two years ago. I started out at 310 and am currently maintaining between 158 and 162. I have been at goal for about 5 months and of course finding it is much harder than the lose phase.

There are many veterans on this site that have been out for many years and they mention that after 2 or 3 years maintenance gets harder.

What are your thoughts about that. What does your diet and exercise look like if you don't mind my asking.

I am glad to hear that you are still taking B12. That is supposedly the one we must take for life. So far I have only had a small bit of trouble with B1 so I take 100mg a day for the last year and now that is in great shape.

I still take calcium citrate chews 1500 total (3 in all) daily. My labs look good but I wonder if some day I will be able to back down on these a bit. They are my most expensive supplement. I only like the chews through Bariatric Advantage and I buy them on Amazon only because they are the cheapest I have found and they are over 30.00 for a bag of 90 which for me is a 1 month supply.

Anyway, just wanted to say welcome and congratulations!

Hi and welcome back. Have you had your annual blood work done? Honestly that is something that needs to happen if not so you can see where your Vitamin needs will be, and I am sure you know this, it is dangerous following RNY to not have a nutritional panel done.

Given you are not hungry the best thing you can do follow a schedule of eating ensuring that you have a minimum of 1 gram of Protein for every 1 inch you are tall. A minimum of 64 ounces of Water or non sweetened liquid every day. Then it's time to cut out all of the bad foods if you are still eating those.

Get on a regimen of eating healthy Protein, good carbs like fruits and vegetables. Once you do that your appetite will likely come back.

It's weird but I don't crave the bad stuff, other than chocolate every once in a while. But I really do crave good protein, fruits and vegetables and I get hungry for those things.

If all that was left for me to eat on this planet, I would not be hungry either. Fast food, prepackaged prepared foods and most junk food really is abhorrent to me.

That is where I would start. Just out of curiosity what made you want to jump back on the band wagon?

I hope that you still have some time in the honeymoon period to get things moving for you. If there is, then you should have some quick success if you follow the plan.

1. 64 oz. Water or non sweetened fluids every day

2. 1 gram of protein for every inch you are tall MINIUMUM per day

3. No drinking 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after a meal

4. Eat slowly but finish your meal within 30 minutes

5. Leverage a high protein, lower carb (fruits and vegetables) diet daily

6. Get rid of all junk, prepackaged foods from your house and stay away from sweets, potatoes, rice, Pasta, bread.< /p>

7. Once you start nearing maintenance you can introduce whole grains back into your diet

Lastly and I mean this with all due respect, seek out a therapist that can help you understand why you have not gotten on board with program after two surgeries to help you. I am not convinced you can do this without understanding your need to self sabotage. I am not trying to be mean here, I am simply calling out what you already did.

I hope that helps you get started and feel free to reach out directly if you like. I would be happy to help.

Hooray for you!!!! Glad to hear things are going so well. Just remember once you get home from the hospital the most important thing you can do for yourself is stay hydrated. It is then that so many don't realize how important those liquids are to how they make you feel.

Sip sip sip even if it means holding that darn cup in your hands constantly. If you sip, you don't become nauseous, dizzy and weak. It also helps flush all the toxins from surgery.

Walk walk walk - this helps get rid of that terrible gas used during surgery and that gas really is the cause of most everyone's discomfort. The more you walk, the faster it leaves your body

I really hope you have a smooth recovery and are well on your way to better health. Now comes the exciting part! A whole new life for you!

Not a balloon patient here but I would just remind you that 3lbs per week is a lot!

I had my stomach rerouted and made into a tiny little pouch. After that initial month of quick loss, I averaged between 3 and 10lb loss per MONTH.

I am guessing that your body is also adjusting to I the new program and that can cause things to slow down as well.

I don't know the balloon well enough to comment on the rules but I am guessing plenty of Water is one of them as well. I do know regardless of what diet people are on Water is almost the conduit to weight loss. Many time people don't realize just how important it is. Could this perhaps help?

I just want people to be realistic, a 3lb loss is actually quite good. Celebrate and keep moving forward.

@@OKCPirate

After 22 months post op, I found myself in grazing hell yesterday. I am recovering from plastics so I know why but I never ever ever want to experience a day like yesterday. I honestly did not think I would ever do that but I was starving and no amount of anything I ate, resolved it. I made some good choices like cheese and lunch meats but I made some horrible choices like dove dark chocolate and crackers. It seemed the crappier the stuff I ate the more hungry I was.

Today, is a new day. I went back to basics with a Protein shake in the am, cottage cheese and a peach for lunch, a Protein Bar for a snack and tons of Water. I will have an taco dish for dinner. I am so glad I found my way back to my norm because not only was I eating everything, for the first time in 22 month I felt like crap about it. I never feel guilty because I follow the plan to about 90% all the time.

So.......I tell you all of this because I think you ask an excellent question. What are this persons current eating habits? Do they come close to the rules? We need more info to help.

@@GinaCampbell

I am glad to hear that you are going back to the hospital. If you do have Cdiff, things can go downhill in a hurry.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I am sad that all people do not get the information and the care that I personally received from my Bariatric center of excellence which was required by my insurance.

The health care systems are so screwed up everywhere these days that you have to advocate for yourself.

I really really hope that you feel better soon and can turn the corner so you get some semblance of your life back.

Please take care!

Here's to never having to dirty a blender or blender cup again. I simply started using premier Protein ready made shakes and I am so happy I did. I actually sold my ninja at my estate sale when I moved.

I hate blending Protein Shakes.......the grit and the smell. YUCK!

It funny the way this works because most of the time it is the doctors office that says they are going to submit and then they don't so you constantly have to follow up.

Once I got them to submit after they screwed up several times for several weeks I literally got an approval within a couple of hours of the submission. I was shocked when I got a call back from the surgeons office with a date for my surgery because I had been approved. I suspect they were begging the insurance company to rush mine because they were supposed to have submitted it some 3 weeks before but someone went on vacation and left me hanging. When I found out they still had not submitted it, I freaked and started bawling like a big old baby and I think it scared them. LOL.

Then when a couple hours later I got my call I started bawling again like a big old baby.

This process made me very emotional because I was so sick and ready to start my new life.

I hope you get an answer quickly so it will put your mind at ease and allow you to move on to the most exciting phase. Yes, you will likely get nervous as the date nears but hopefully you are so ready that it is like Christmas morning.

I know I feel that way now that I am through it and have had my first of several plastics. It feels like Christmas morning.

Good luck!

Hi there!

Congratulation on getting through surgery. You are likely in the midst of the 3 week stall which is very common.

It would be helpful to know your current diet, Water intake and Protein intake. Are you getting a minimum of 64 oz. of fluids every day? That is the number 1 most important factor post surgery following by ensuring you are getting the appropriate Protein. You should have 1 gram for every inch you are tall.

If you are hitting both of those goals every day and sticking to a well balanced high protein lower carb (veggies & Fruit) you will lose weight. It is nearly impossible not to.

Most people do not understand the importance of Water and protein until they get stuck and then they start hitting those goals and the weight comes off.

Best of luck to you.

Honestly I don't think anyone can answer your question. Everyone loses at a different pace and you really can not time box what you will lose in a given period.

You cannot account for stalls which happen all along the way even in the first month. Sometimes those stalls last a week to 10 days and sometimes they last a lot longer.

The important thing is that you get a great start by getting all of the fluids you possibly can right after surgery followed by your Protein. Lastly your Vitamins and moving around as much as you can. If you focus on those things the weight will come off.

I think almost everyone underestimates the importance of of Water. It really is the thing that matters most right out of the gate and continues to matter in both losing and maintaining.

Best of luck to you!