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I posted another similar topic mostly as a goof awhile back and it's had an amazing number of views and replies. It made me realize that talking about your ass after surgery can be an embarrassing thing. Yes, I have shat myself, a number of times. There I said it. Lipsticklady gave me the words to live by: Never trust a fart. In keeping with educating people, especially new folks, I thought I would condense a long post and make sort of a guide to living with your ass after surgery, if I did this right, you, the reader will laugh and learn at the same time. Nothing is out of bounds in this post, it's just an amalgam of all the great information posted by the community in the last post. So, here we go: ** Note I am not a Doctor, this post makes no medical advice, it is simply my opinion and that of others, nothing can substitute the advice of your Surgeon or Weight loss team ** Section one: Possible Ass functionality. The ass, has three states, I'll name them, Normal, Sahara and Volcano. Normal function is what we all seek. There are a plethora of reasons your ass may not be operating in this state, but we'll get to that. Next up, Sahara, as it's name would imply, this is when your stool becomes as dry as the Sahara desert. You could spend an afternoon on the bowl, read half a book, your legs and feet go numb, and at the end you, if you are lucky, pass a couple pebbles that actually 'plink' when they hit the bowl. The result is blown blood vessels, having the crawl out of the bathroom because your legs and feet are asleep, and a sore anus. This is not desirable. Even the hardcore S&M people are like, no man, that's hardcore. Then there is the exact opposite, Volcano ass. We all know it. You get a bit of rumbling in your tummy, pass a little gas, then it's game on! You pinch and duck waddle at top speed to the bathroom, sometimes you make it, sometimes you don't. (On a sidebar, it seems like the nerves that connect the ass and the brain have a lag of about 5 seconds. Meaning your ass sends out an alert to go NOW, and your brain takes about 5 seconds to process this and get it out to you, effectively putting your ass 5 seconds ahead of you. Anyone who has shat themselves within 3 feet of the bowl knows what I am talking about). Occasionally Volcano ass erupts like Mt St Helens. You are just sitting there, and BOOM explosion. It may have felt like a little toot, but without warning your ass erupted. ** Edit ** Thanks to @@cherri2082 for pointing out something I omitted. Sodium. I know many of us have a tendency to grab the "Low Sodium" version of a product as sodium has been vilified, however it is an essential mineral. The US RDA for a normal adult male is 1500mg per day, I have no idea how a Bypass affects our ability to absorb sodium, and won't until I get a major blood panel done. However, you should strive to make sure you get enough sodium every day, and when your ass is in Volcano state and you are loosing precious Water, a boost in sodium may well spell the difference between dehydration or not. Thanks for pointing this out. Section two. How to deal with Sahara ass. RNY GB are prohibited from using 'bulking agents' for 6 months post op. Meaning your solutions are the following. First, everyone should be taking a Probiotic. Our digestive system has just been through hell and a little help cannot hurt. Second approach, Miralax, call your Doctor and get a script, it's WAY cheaper. If you are in an extreme state of Sahara, try two does of Miralax a day for 1-3 days. This really should clear you up. DRINK WATER, I shoot for 100 oz a day. You cannot be angry with your ass for going into Sahara mode when there is not enough liquid. If 3 days of double shots of Miralax does not help, call MOM. Yep, Milk of Magnesia. I took 3 Tablespoons on the first day and 4 the next, and went straight into Volcano. No kidding I lost 5 pounds in 20 minutes. Depending on your diet stage working Fiber into your diet can be hard. But it is not impossible. Chili is a stage 3 or 4 depending on your surgeon diet choice and you can put all kinds of high fiber stuff in there and never taste it. I have been eating nothing but chili for over a month, because it's predictable and cheap. That and I am a boring eater. Well, chili for meals I eat other things. Things to avoid, any opioid pain medicine. If you are in pain and prescribed Vicodin or Percodan, plan ahead, start taking Miralax along with the meds, these WILL PLUG YOU UP!!! Feel free to post any other meds you have encountered that can cause Sahara or Volcano. Taking Miralax long term may be a reality for some. It's better than the alternative. There is a drastic measure that can be taken instead of going to hospital. If you have not pooped in I would say 4 or 5 days, see your PCP and get a script for 'Go Lightly'. It's an oxymoron. It is used to clean you out before a colonoscopy. You WILL poop, In fact, you might see stuff coming out you don't remember eating. This is an extreme solution and again if you go to the ER, this is what they are going to give you. Get it yourself and at least you can poop your brains out in your own bathroom. ** Edit** Thanks to @@Cervidae You may want to try Smooth Move Tea. She said she's had good results with it and I recall from the first post a couple people talked about different teas. Just a word of caution, or advice, if the tea contains caffeine remember that is a diuretic so you would want to increase your water intake a bit. Probably not earth shattering, but if your are already drinking coffee, God knows I do, water intake is so important. Thanks for sharing. Another shout out to @@gpmed who noted that MOM caused stomach discomfort and sometimes overshot (or overshat, that line keeps cracking me up!) the target. I found the overshatting part dead on, but preferable to Sahara. Colace gel caps were suggested, and apparently they do work in RNY GB patients. Thanks for contributing! Another shout out to @ for recommending the Squatty Potty. It's essentially a 'U' shaped footstool (no it not that kind of stool lol!!) that sits around your toilet bowl. Putting your feet on it changes the angle of your anus, rectum and colon, and it designed to make passing a Sahara Rock Poop easier. Thanks for the addition! Section three: How to deal with Volcano ass. Here is the real problem, short of imodium, this is hard to deal with. Most likely you are eating something your ass does not like. Try backing off your diet and going old school. Go back a diet phase if you have too. Probiotics gotta take em. They really help. Aside from diet changes and probiotics there is not a lot you can do about this. Usually if you are peeing out your poop, it's the body's way of saying there is something here I don't want so I am cleaning you out. Unfortunately the 'something' is unique. You may have become lactose intolerant. Try FairLife Milk (the ONLY milk anyone here should be drinking). It has no lactose, 1/2 the carbs and nearly twice the Protein. AND it tastes GREAT!! The whole milk is like cream. The Skim is like 2% milk. Very creamy. Another really, REALLY important thing to remember when going through a Volcano stage, is to increase your water intake. For RNY GB patients the #1 reason for hospital readmission within 30 days post op, is dehydration. I know I know, your ass is erupting and exploding and the last thing you think you want is more liquid, but you need it. In fact, lack of water can actually make Volcano worse, as your body dehydrates things go awry. Trust me, when I was in Desert Storm I almost died from dehydration. I was CAS evaced to a field hospital and spent 20 days in hospital. The doctor told me I was within hours of death due to dehydration. And that at a certain point, once your body becomes so dehydrated it stops looking for water in the usual places, it drains your eyes, your brain, your organs and even with an IV you may still die. Dehydration is NO ******* JOKE. **Edit, I forgot when writing this to add something I take regularly, however I make SURE to take it when in Volcano mode for more than 24 hours. When your ass is erupting, and your are loosing mass amounts of water, you are also loosing critical minerals that are required to support life. While I spoke about increasing water, and you should, during these times I make sure to add (in my case my water canteens are 30oz) 2 NUUN tablets. They are essentially sugar free Gatorade. You can read about them here and buy them as well from that site (Amazon), they are effervescent but that only lasts for like 20 minutes, so drop a tablet or two into a bottle of water, and let it sit unopened in the fridge for 1/2 an hour and the carbonation is gone. They have a fairly mild flavor, but I've tried every flavor and while some I like better than others, there is none that I do not like at all. Gotta give a special shout out to @@cherri2082 for providing a fix for a burned, chapped ass exit. Aquaphor, which is essentially a better version of Vaseline. We used it on my kids when they were little for a range of things. Good stuff, and it will certainly help a burned out butt. Thanks for the advice!! Wrap up: We all want a normally functioning ass. Me and my ass had it out a couple weeks ago. A double dose or Miralax followed by 4 tablespoons of MOM and I went into Volcano mode, extreme edition. Once it was over, and it was quick. My ass called a truce. I keep the MOM on the back of the toilet to remind my ass every time I sit down, what power I have available to me. However, Probiotics (do NOT cheap out on them, buy good ones, it's worth the extra couple bucks), lots of walking, lots of water and fiber and my ass has been normal for a couple weeks. I don't poop every day, sometimes I flirt with Sahara, but it clears up in a day. I had a good poop today, and as it's been a couple weeks, I thought I would share all I have learned, and start a post anyone can add whatever they have learned. TOGETHER WE CAN POOP NORMALLY! EMPOWER YOURSELF! YOU CONTROL YOUR ASS, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Remember, anything coming out of your ass, started off in your mouth. Talk about your ass in the third person, it helps. I think of my ass like another part of me, one that needs to be controlled. And unless you want to deal with this: SEE ATTACHMENT Heed the above advice! HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY POOPING!!!! Reading this post is meant to empower you over your ass, rise up and declare you will no longer be a slave to your ass, that ass oppression is OVER. And all of us in a single voice say to the world we have had enough (or not enough in the case of Sahara) and we are DEMANDING change, POWER TO THE POOPER!!! POWER TO THE POOPER!!!, POWER TO THE POOPER!!! /rant off

Many of us posted daily before and after surgery. What was this? What was that? Is this normal? Why am I not losing enough weight? The list is endless, I know I posted, oddly enough about my ass, but I posted a great deal. Then the party ended. Post op became my life, it was no longer new. I figured out how to eat, avoid getting sick and lost more weight than I had even planned on losing. No posts here. No thanks given for all the wonderful advice. I feel like a hypocrite I asked so much of this site, then just dropped it as we tend to do in this digital world we live in. What makes this site what it is is the people. The community, the collective understanding. The other voices that let you know you are not alone and you will get through this. I post this humbly, as I ask for forgiveness from the community for not keeping up with my posting. Not helping more people than helped me. In a way, I feel shameful. Shameful for not answering the same questions I asked. So, to the collective here, I say I am sorry. I will try to be around and post more often, and to help more people.

You cannot help but to lose weight. Stick to the program, eat right, exercise, properly supplement and stop looking at the scale. Why do I say this? About 8 months post op, what I saw in the mirror became more important than what some arbitrary number on a device said. I do weigh myself every now and then, but I honestly don't care. I like what I see in the mirror and that is what really counts. Stick to the diet. Eat protein first, and you'll be shocked. I am 18 months post op and I still cannot eat more than a couple of ounces of chicken or beef. My little stomach fills up with good protein and I supplement with Opurity simply the best, pharmaceutical grade protein you can get. Oh AND it tastes great. Do not rush this, you know why? You are starting the rest of your post op life. As long as you are eating right. And your ass is working okay and you get enough liquid you cannot help but to lose weight. Start taking pictures of yourself in just underwear. Do it weekly or monthly. After 6 months compare month 1 to month 6. Who cares what the scale says? I like who I have become. I met the love of my life, and am in love, I never knew you could love anyone like I love my girlfriend. I was married and never loved my ex wife the way I am in love. Is it because I had surgery? Partially. Being in shape is whatever it is. Being confident, feeling good about the way I look, no longer feeling worthless, these are all bonus attributes of surgery. Yet they allowed me to find a lover and a dream life I never dreampt could have existed. So eat/drink and be merry. You'll get there. It is not about the end it truly is about the voyage.

So I got on the scale today, I had surgery one year, four months and five days ago. I weighed 398 pounds. My goal was 200 pounds. Ive been hovering around 205 for months. Today I got on the scale and got a very early Christmas present. 199.6. I've made it. To all of those who's words helped my during times of angst, or acted as a salve to help me during a hard time (Usually with my ass) THANK YOU, attached is proof that you can do it. If I can, ANYONE can!

I went to a couple meetings, but I don't drive (Native New Yorker) so I rely on my sister to drive me home. In the end for the short meeting the effort outweighed (no pun intended) the benefit.

Amusingly enough this post was initially started as a serious topic. However I decided to add some humor into a rather uncomfortable subject as a method of getting people to feel more comfortable talking about it. I think I overdid it, but the post is still full of great stuff that the community added, so I'll call this one a win.

Miralax tends to take a couple days to work, Smooth Move from what I understand works faster. The issue is you don't want to overdo it and wind up in Volcano stage.

@ Best of luck! Let us all know how you are doing!

@@Inner Surfer Girl I never said I condone it, hell I was heavy, not fat but near my max weight in the Army. It was hell. I lost a lot of weight by starving myself. However a combat soldier looks at things through very different lenses. Given that so many of our vets served multiple combat tours, I imagine it is far worse today than when I was in back in Desert Storm. I guess the distinction I am trying, and apparently failing to make, is that combat soldiers see things from a very different perspective. As for your boss, he might just be an asshole. In fact there are a myriad of reasons for his behavior, I just heard the military aspect and decided to toss in my two cents. I do hope and pray your situation get's better. I think we all know how hard discrimination due to weight can be.

@@esskay77 Not at all, in the Military mind, you reward those who deserve it. It is sort of like reverse punishment, by rewarding those who are very fit, it is an acknowledgement of their fitness, and discipline, whereas those who are unfit are punished for not living up to the Military ideal. The Military mind is very difficult for those who never served to understand. As I said in the above post, if any of these military folks saw active combat, they are quite likely to be extraordinarily critical of obese people. In combat, a soldier has two best friends, mother earth and the man standing next to you. You are no better off that the guy next to you. If he/she is obese or slow, or has any other defect, your chances of dying in a firefight go up exponentially. Combat is highly Fluid, fire, move, fire, move, fire, move. Someone out of shape, is going to hold you back. When you fire, you give away your location. The whole idea of fire, move, fire, is to keep your target guessing where you are and firing at where you were, not where you are now. It is very dynamic. I've seen soldiers tell the CO they would rather face a courts martial then go into combat with someone unfit. At least a courts martial you live through. Weight discrimination is a VERY serious problem in the military. It is a whole mindset. This is for active infantry types, a tanker is less likely to feel this way. However officers realize the problems that unfit soldiers will present when the time for combat comes, and are ruthless in trying to get everyone into shape. This furthers the poor attitude of fit soldiers against unfit soldiers as a CO is likely to make an entire company do PT several times a day to try and get one or two soldiers into better shape. This makes enemies of those who were already fit. It is a very complex situation. *** Again, I in no way condone this, I am simply stating what I have seen ***

From a military perspective I can see where your boss is coming from. Mind you I am not justifying it, just explaining it. Overweight people in the military are seen in horrible terms. Not only from the perspective of being weak, but in combat, I want the guy who is in great shape next to me, not the overweight guy who is going to slow me down. In the military weight discrimination is rampant. I suspect your boss is military? I would think this is typical behavior for a military man. The flip side to this is, once you get the GB, and lose your excess weight, you will be seen as a shining beacon, someone who lost excess weight and is now a member of the 'club' as it were. You will be thought of as strong and disciplined, traits highly valued in the military. Sadly until that time comes, this office behavior is likely to continue unabated. On the flip side, Obesity is a disability, if you can prove discrimination based on your weight, you have a case. It will ruin your career, but it is an option. Best of luck.

Alex you bring up a great topic. I will enter my two cents. Currently in science there is something of a revolution going on regarding diets. Science has figured out that essentially DNA driven diets, and in the next couple of years this will be rather mainstream. I theorized on this about a decade ago when I was living the Atkins lifestyle (that I am trying to get back too today). I wondered why some people can eat sugar and just remain thin. My best friend used to say those folks 'won the genetic lottery', but I thought it was something in their ancestors past that allowed them to eat carbs and not gain weight. I though about the rather limited time man has had to deal with sugar in particular. Corn syrup especially. Corn, 200 years ago was a grass. We have not had time to evolve to properly deal with it. Now science has figured out how to tailor a diet based on your DNA. So the answer is that for ME, I avoid carbs like herpes. I strive to get 60-70% of my daily calorie intake from Protein and keep carbs as low as I can. That works for ME, others will respond differently. I look forward to the day when my DNA can be tested and a diet recommended based on sound science that will tell me what foods I should be eating to lose weight. Until that day, carbs = bad.

Well first off, welcome to the rest of your new life! With that statement comes a great number of changes, mental and physical. First, I would say you are eating too much, however, I too had issues soon after surgery. Do not get me wrong, I am just now 3.5 months post-op, but down 70 pounds. Weight loss is 'strange' after surgery, especially in the beginning. I really set the bar high, and decided long before surgery that I was committing to a complete lifestyle change, and I am living it today. As mentioned earlier in this post, tracking your food is very important. This is one of the three reasons I recommend a Fitbit to everyone, you can track your food/water/protein input with the Fitbit website (or MyFitnesspal.com), secondly, you can track your activity, and lastly and this is a biggie, you can see your heartrate. Why is this so important? One of the very early signs of dumping is Tachycardia, and elevated heart rate. So, you are chowing down on a new food and you start to feel a bit strange. Am I eating too fast? Am I going to dump? Does this not agree with me? A quick glance at your heart rate is a great tool to determine why you are feeling the way you are, and more importantly to prevent dumping. I have had three such incidents now, where I was juuuuuuust on the border of dumping, but I began to feel odd, checked my heart rate, saw it in the upper 80s' low 90's and realized I was about to dump. I stopped eating the suspect food and within 20 minutes I was fine. Why is food tracking so important? One word, accountability. I look at my food intake every day. I log every single thing that touches my lips. My weight loss never surprises me. I know when I was adding new foods, or ate 'heavy' foods and lowered my expectations for the week. Tracking with software allows you to see, how well or poorly you are doing in a given day, and to evaluate the prior day once it had concluded. HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE. Activity. Let's face it, weight loss is really as simple as burning more calories than you take in. You need to be able to determine how many calories are being burned and a Fitbit does a great job at this. No it is not perfect, but it is better than guessing. No matter how obese you may be, you can walk. I do. In fact, I am up to 8 miles, 5 days a week. I am a full time student, so I have the two hours to dedicate. Many do not. Track your activity, and HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE. Pro tips: -Do not drink 30 minutes before a meal and for 30 minutes after a meal. -NEVER eat while distracted. NO EATING IN FRONT OF THE TELEVISION!!! Sit at the table, without distraction and slowly eat your food. FEEL what your body is telling you. Savor every bite. -Remember calories are not all created equal. I have gone to a rather extreme diet, but I like low carbing, I like the energy and the overall great feeling. Thus, I do not imbibe anything solid and white (fat free cheese is the lone exception), no Sugar, Flour, Rice, Pasta, Bread or Potatoes. There are only two things you are concerned with at this stage, really, two. Water intake and Protein. And your body will punish you for failing to take in enough. I shoot for 100g of high quality protein a day (not all Proteins are created equal, research PDCASS), and at least 80oz of water. -Calories, your mileage will vary, but I have found that I lose weight at the best rate when on active days I get in 1100-1300 calories and on inactive days 600-800 calories. I am never really hungry, and have to stick to a schedule to make sure I get enough calories in on any given day. -Milk, try Isopure in Fairlife milk. That is how I do it, in fact Fairlife milk is one of the many wonderful things I learned about here in these forums. Short story, it is lactose free, has twice the protein of regular milk and 1/2 the carbs. I use 2 measured ounces of whole milk in my coffee, and use the skim for everything else. It is much creamier than regular milk. The whole milk is more like cream, and the skim more like 2% milk. -These tips may or may not help you, they help me. -Fiber. Yes you need it, see the post about dealing with your new post op ass for more. I struggle with this, daily. In closing I would say, do not put your head in the sand. Hold yourself accountable for ALL your actions. It is the aggregate of all your actions that will determine what the scale has to say at the end of each week. You are nearly due for the 'dreaded three week stall'. It will pass. Do not let it get you down if it hits you. Seek counseling for food addiction. I am not a '12 step' kinda guy. I have to solve my own problems, but that is me. I think it is the Military in me, I do not like asking for help, I see it as a weakness. It is not, but as my ex mother in law was famously quoted, "Feelings are not facts". I FEEL like asking for help is a weakness, but my mind knows better. That is my issue to deal with. Best of luck. Post often. Keep us in the loop, there are a LOT of WONDERFUL people here.

@@gowalking This was a good thread till I saw this. For heaven's sake, stop bashing surgeries that did not work for you. I understand you had issues with the band, but lots of others including myself have done well with it and are happy. Your initial post about why you are revising is fine. It's your story and you have every right to speak to it. But this post is unnecessary.Honey you are new to the game.I just had a 5 hour revision surgery because My esophagus band stomach ....major organs are messed up from years of having that lapband!I am speaking from experience!I am not new to the rodeo of WLS!I have had the band since 2004.I will say what I please. With all due respect, you're missing the point of my issue with your statement. I'm very sorry you have had obviously serious issues with the band and your story is not to be dismissed. It's the blanket statement you made that I have issues with. There are plenty of long time bandsters who are just fine. Alex Brecher, the founder of this site, is one of the first people who comes to mind. Again I will toss my hat into the ring. My best friend of 30 years, was banded about 5 years ago. He was all motivated and did everything right and initially lost some weight. He went from being 5' 8" and 280 or so, to today's weight of about 230ish, he fluctuates between 225 and 235. He did a tour in Afghanistan as a civilian two years ago, and lost a great deal of weight (Not a whole lot to do at Bagram). He came back and had a 1.5cc fill done that was just a bit too tight, but with his weight loss, the doctor assumed he would continue to lose weight and would grow into the fill. WRONG. He could no longer eat hard foods and as such sort of went on to soft calories. He endured this for about a year, and went in a couple months ago and they took out .5cc. Again he began to lose weight, but because there is no ill effect for him if he eats a snickers bar, he does. He walks 20K steps a day, including a 1 hours run every morning, but takes in so many calories he's hovering. He asked his doctor about a revision, and was sort of upset that the band was not really doing much for him any longer. His doctor said that, he would be considered a success as he's lost and maintained 50+ pounds for several years. However the doctor said that the band is really being scaled back to a very particular group of people. Folks who do not have a great deal of weight to lose, and other very specific populations. So in the end, is the band evil? No. The long term results are not what was expected, but if we go back in time, neither were the first bypass patients. A great many who died, as doctors spent about 10 years working out the right length for the Roux limb, they tried everything from as little as 25cm to the standard today of 150cm. A great number of those people with 25cm or 50cm Roux limbs are either dead, revised, or having a terrible time trying not to starve to death. The Band was new, novel and pretty simple. In addition, Doctors saw a long stream of visits for fills, adding revenue. Best of all, it is removable with (not always, ulcers are a real problem) little side effects. So the big push was really a well calculated experiment. It works in some people, and not others. Those, like my friend who never dealt with food addiction, perform poorly compared to those who deal with this aspect. Alex had the right motivation and mindset, and after having written so many books and being involved with this website, he is sort of forced to maintain his weight. If he had a big regain, it would have the effect that Dr Atkins dying had on the whole Low Carb thing. I do not think the band will go away completely, and I am sure that the makers are working on new revisions to stay profitable and in business. Much like the bypass did. This gets back to my post here about the sleeve. Much like the band 10 years ago, there are no long term, peer reviewed head to head studies comparing the sleeve to the bypass. It has not undergone that revision phase that is so essential. Perhaps in 5 years the sleeve will be done a little differently, perhaps it will incorporate some bypass features into it. There is no telling. For ME it's too new a procedure, and I have GERD so it was a non starter. I hope that anyone having it has nothing but success, as I do with anyone having any procedure. But a quick look back at medicine shows that many times things that were seen as good turned out in the long run to have completely unintended side effects, anyone remember Thalidomide? Medicine is science, and science takes time to perfect.

@@drw2 I have this all the time. I agree it is very confusing. I am on an unrestricted diet and am adding foods VERY slowly. One of the keys is to eat without any distractions. I was skeptical at first, but did as I was told, now I understand. Eat slowly is the big key, and I am terrible at that. But it takes upwards of 15 minutes before your stoma can signal the brain it is full, that is why you get the pain first, then the full feeling. Sloooooooooooowly eat. It gets better though once you get back to solid foods. I weight everything, I have my first steak the other day. I bought a 1 pound delmonico steak, cut it in two and had 6 oz of steak after cooking. That and 3 oz of asparagus and I was full. However, I usually get hungry fairly soon after eating. After the steak, 4 hours later I was still full. More dense food will take longer to empty, leading to eating less, which increases weight loss. I am running about a pound a day for the last month. Just by eating more dense food. I get 700-1000 calories a day, all my Protein and I shoot for 80-100 oz of Water. And I am never hungry. You'll work it out, it takes time. One piece of advice I give to new folks, get a Fitbit, for three reasons, first their website is great to log your food. Log everything that goes in your mouth. Everything. Even a tic tac (not that I would eat one) would be logged. Secondly, activity tracking. A Fitbit makes you aware of your activity and holds you responsible. You can't deny what it logs. And lastly, and this is a biggie, the heart rate sensor. One of the early signs of dumping is Tachycardia. When I am eating and unsure If I am full, or if I start to feel a bit off, first thing I do is check my heartrate. If it is elevated, guess what? You are on the verge of dumping. My resting heartrate is between 50-70 bpm, When I see it in the low 90s, I stop eating and toss whatever is left away. If you actually dump, a heartrate of 120+ bpm is not unheard of. The Fitbit is a great device and worth every penny.

@@Dallas Powell What really rubs my ass the wrong way is the way your surgeon keeps giving you at a minimum bad advice, at worst he is blatantly lying to you. I guess the whole "Do no harm" thing means little to this guy. It's possible he was trained in some third world shite hole and knows the bare minimum about surgery. I chose my surgeon as he was a 14 year Navy combat surgeon. He did four combat tours, combat surgery is about the most intense training a surgeon can get. I have a good friend of mine in NY who is a GP. We used to golf together, have dinner and just sort of hung out. I have no idea why but we just clicked. Anyway, I was going on one night at dinner about how residents are treated horribly and work for near slave labor wages. He became VERY upset! He explained the whole process of being a resident is to work in the absolute worst possible conditions, and make the right choice every single time. He said the harder the residency the better the doctor. I had never thought of it like that, but he is right. If you can make split second decisions with imperfect information and save lives, the complete control and relaxed atmosphere of an surgical suite must seem like a vacation. This brings me back to your surgeon, he made a decision or several when he was operating on you. Those choices were obviously not the right ones. It's time for him to man up and explain to you what he did wrong and pay the piper. What he is putting you through is ridiculous. I am a big guy and have no problems intimidating people. You are even bigger than I am. You must be very calm, if it were me, he would be scared shiteless when I saw him. Not that I advocate kicking his ass (although the personal satisfaction is hard to deny) but learning everything you can about the surgical procedure, and asking him technical questions. For example, "Doctor, what was the port size of my antistomosis?" "How long a Roux did you use" "Which surgical procedure did you use to route the alimentary limb?" Answers should be, 10mm, 150 cm and there are a number of routing techniques used to route the interior plumbing. Another interesting question, "How many staples did you use?" I personally have 3400 of them. I nearly fainted when my surgeon told me that. But he explained the logic and it made sense, he went way out of his way to seal off my old stomach to prevent a fissure. If you get some general, I have no idea how many staples I used answer, I would be alarmed. My surgeon, did not even think about it. It is his SOP. Get out of town find a reputable Doctor at a reputable Center of Excellence and have him scope you and see what is going on inside. Revisions are becoming very common, why? Numbers. RNY GB was the most popular surgery for so long, millions of people have had it done now. Many are 20 even 30 years out, and need a bit of tightening up. It makes sense. Read the history of the RNY GB it is an amazing read, remember this started in the 1960's! Granted a lot of people died, but the surgery is so well known now, there are no variables. Every single one should yield the exact same results simply because of the level of refinement the procedure has gone through. Lastly consider this, my surgeon explained to me that a RNY GB is, as far as severity, about a major a surgery as open heart surgery. It's major. Very major. Time to get answers, then a lawyer and sue. Sue him for two reasons, one to get money, that is how the legal system dishes out 'justice' second, if his insurance lets this get to court, you stand a good chance of ruining his career, not out of malice, but to save the countless future victims this tool is going to mess up. If you have the means to get to Long Island, North Shore University Hospital is as good as it gets. Further, if there is ANY complications, some of the best hospitals in the world are within a 40 minute drive. North Shore is NY's ONLY Tier 1 trauma center, well fully ranked, they are tier 1 from neonatal, through all age/sex groups through very old people. Best of luck to you my friend, please post back and let us know what your next move is.

@@CowgirlJane The 1% thing, perhaps I misunderstood you, it is 1:45 am. lol sorry about any confusion

I have been reading studies in JAMA and elsewhere for well over a year, looking at all kinds of statistics. Initially my research was to determine which bariatric surgery was the best choice. Even after attending an informational seminar, where my surgeon went on to call the BNY GB the “Gold Standard” I had more reading to do. As it turns out for me, as someone who has taken medication to avoid GERD for the last 20 years, and my GERD evolved to the point that I now have Barrett’s esophagus, however it has not spread nor is there any signs of dysplasia so that is okay, but it ruled out the Sleeve for me. The band is no longer actively pushed, in fact the number of revisions from band to GB in 2014 actually was higher than the number of people getting the band for the first time. My surgeon said that in his opinion in 10 years the band will be considered a historical procedure and no longer done, or if still done, only on a very small segment of the bariatric group as a whole. So why do we fail to continue succeeding? Let’s start by defining failure, in the context of this post. The failure I am talking about is, having surgery, getting to your goal weight, then after a year (or more significantly at three and five years out) gaining back a larger percentage of weight than is expected. The current system wide average, is that it is expected that all patients will gain back about 10% of the weight lost. It is less in the GB group then the sleeve, and the band is worst of them all. Now understanding what I mean by failure to continue succeeding, here is the bad news. No one has done any respectable studies looking at WHY we fail to continue to succeed, the studies mostly compare success rates between the various surgeries and things like additional surgery, readmission rates, complication etc. I think I can explain why some people fail to continue to succeed, and when you think about it makes sense. It is actually the opposite of a positive new thinking called the “Aggregation of Marginal Gains” look at this link to read about it. It is a way to live life. To break it down, simply stated, you improve everything within your sphere of influence by 1%, the sum of all those increases can be, and if done correctly, quite significant. But you have to fully embrace the concept for it to work. When I say EVERYTHING within your sphere of influence I mean everything. A great example, when I used to cross the road going for my morning walk, I waited until an opening in traffic then I took a diagonal path across the road. This represented the easiest way to cross. Now I refuse to turn unless making a 90 degree turn. I improved my step count crossing roads by 1%. Nothing Earth shaking, but it adds up. Park 1% further away from the door. Walk upstairs instead of the elevator. Which I already did, however now I walk ½ a flight further than I need to go and them go down. 1%. Grasp the concept as a whole, and just imagine, improving everything by 1%, and not just once. Taking the stair example, I started off walking up just a couple additional steps. Now it’s a ½ a flight plus a couple extra steps. Soon I’ll be up to a full additional flight of stairs. Continue to push for 1% changes. So now that this great concept is out there, you are probably asking yourself, what this long winded tool is getting at. We fail to continue succeeding, that is regain more weight than expected, in the exact opposite way we succeed. 1% at a time. You’re at your goal, your weight fluctuates up and down 2 pounds. It’s been a long time since surgery and you are not as sensitive to sugar as you were initially. So you are at a party and say what the heck and you have a small piece of cake. You don’t dump, in fact you have no ill effects at all. This is the start of the end. One piece of cake leads to two, which leads to other things you would not eat, but you’ve become tired of all the cooking, and a quick meal, is temping. Then it happens. You get on the scale and you are up three or four or even five pounds. Knowing you lost the weight before, you think no biggie, I’ll just make sure I eat right. Some do some don’t. Some become in their own mind failures at that point and fail to see the reason to continue with the program. *(Note the title of this post is not why we fail, NEVER think of yourself as a failure, EVER!! Look back at old pictures and remember you are a success!! Do not let the negative thoughts become reality, do not set yourself up for failure. Remember the old adage, “If you are not planning to succeed, you are planning to fail) They stop going to the gym, start old eating habits back up, and sure enough as they expected, the weight comes back as well. So why do I post this now, and post it here? Because this post seeks to reinforce that which should have been taught to you in whatever mental health process your surgical group had you go through. The understanding that you are making a LIFELONG LIFESTYLE CHANGE emphasis is justified. I don’t have any cute puns or. gifs to attach. This post, I hope will help those approaching goal, those at goal and those who are new or even still pre-surgery, to understand, these changes never go away. When you remove something from your diet, it’s removed. I think of the things I choose not to eat as things I am allergic too. I choose a bit more extreme diet than many, I do not eat corn, potatoes, rice, flour, Pasta, sugar, fructose or anything processed. If there is something on the label I cannot pronounce, it’s processed, and I refuse to eat it. There are exceptions. I am going to see Star Wars Saturday evening, and I will probably cough up $50 for a small popcorn and a bottle of Water. This to me is acceptable. I Choose not to eat certain foods, but I can also eat them with the understanding that it is limited. So if you read this whole post, congratulations on your tenacity. Hopefully it will enlighten you. Hopefully it will help you affect positive changes in your life. The Aggregation of Marginal Gains is a simple concept to employ, but life altering. And lastly always remember this, if nothing else from this post, put up a sticky note on your fridge or inside your car, or the side of a computer monitor, anywhere where you will see it every day, and remember this “I attained success 1% at a time, that is slowly, I will stop being successful in the same way, 1% at a time, or slowly. I must always be consciously aware of what I am eating and continue to plan to succeed” Happy Holidays to all, and to those in your lives!!!

@@CowgirlJane It is the aggregation of all the changes that add up. The whole principal is to start small. It's never too late to start, look at Team Sky! Happy New Year

@@LF1971 One day in the future, you'll pay it forward to someone else. That is what makes this such a great site!

@@LF1971 We fail the same way we succeed, 1% at a time, or slowly. Eat a cupcake, and note, did it kill you? Nope, there is no immediate reaction. To be really successful, your Surgeon cannot possibly overstate, this is a LIFELONG change. No more cupcakes. Ever. Can you live with that? Does your love of a cupcake surpass your desire to be fit and healthy? Is that cupcake going to be the one that causes you too stroke out? Or have a heart attack? It's like smoking. I started making these changes a very long time before I had surgery. I was already in a good place when I had surgery, it was not such a shock. Start now. Tonight. Throw out everything (well donate it) you will no longer be able to eat. That is a good start. If it not in the house, you can't eat it, right? And if ever you are going through a rough time, and you will, we are ALL here for you. WE are your biggest fan, we all want you to succeed. Best of luck and Happy New Year.

You should truly consider seeking mental health counseling. You are a hateful person. Coming here and telling me I was going to fail, was unforgivable. Go troll another forum, I am not the only one who posted about you. I seek to share and help. That is all. I am no messiah, however my ass topic has helped many people, what have you done? Tear me down. As for my military service, what I did is none of your Fing business, I do not like talking about it. Musing about common topics is one thing, details about taking a life, fall well outside the scope of a friendly wen page. Nice line about the chicken crutch, recall YOU started this, not I. So simply go away. I've notified Alex Brecher about your posts in the hoped he bans you for attacking me in the manner you did. If not, troll away. On a different note, you are correct, I did not read that your husband served. Glad to have him in family fold. I wish nothing but safety for your daughter, I am not a monster. The whole point to these forums is to share our collective wisdom to help others. You had a hard time, I have a friend who had a GB 10-12 years ago who is going to die soon because he never took care of himself. He similarly has to get iron injections 3 days a week once a month. His health problems will cost him his life, however I am resigned to this. I tried in vein for years to get him to take care of himself and eat right, only to be angrily told to leave it alone. I saw your photos, and your loss is impressive. However telling a member here to go away and come back in 2 years would deprive all these people what lessons I have learned. That is not how I operate. This is my online family, these are the only people who understand what I am going through. I'll still be here in 2 years, and the 2 after that. This is a lifelong commitment. I would suggest as an alternative that you go seek some help for your latent anger, or at least learn how to phrase things in a better way. Trying to bait me into an argument serves no one here any purpose. In fact none of your posts have added any value to this topic. I can see why your old forum died with the likes of you around berating people. You'll not have the same success here. These mark my final words on this subject to me it's closed. And if I could find it, I'd love to show you the x-ray of my left hand with shrapnel in it. I guess a rogue potato must have exploded and got me while I was cooking.....

@@Dar200 You sound just like me. Day 1 4 tablespoons, lots of rumbling. Day 2, 4 tablespoons, 2 hours later full eruption! The funniest part is when the stool that is plugging you up comes flying out. Then, on the verge of TMI, chocolate pudding for about 1/2 an hour. Then it is over. Weight yourself if you can before the second BM. I lost 5 pounds in one sitting. It made my week.

@sharowna@Dar200@goblue9280 I am a bit choked up. Today started in the toilet, however it quickly recovered. All I ever set out to do is to share what I have learned and make difficult to talk about topics amusing yet informative. Why that witch decided to flame me is unknown. But she has been revealed as a troll and as such I expect her to go away. As for meeting my goal weight, I'll do it within 6 months. God willing. I am not far now and the weight is coming off very quickly, to the tune of 4-6 pounds a week. Once winter in NH is over and I can really ramp up my outdoor exercise time, I expect things to go faster. I did make a new observation this week. It feels like the chain that has me tied to the scale has been removed. I told me therapist yesterday I am not as concerned with what the scale say as what the mirror says. I think that is a better way to view things. I'll be happy not so much when the scale says a certain number, but when I look in the mirror and am happy with what I see. Thank you all for your support and I wish you all a Very Happy New Years!!

@jess9395 Thanks for the kind words, early morning, no coffee, and attacked by a troll, I responded poorly. I fired back as nicely as I could, as I don't really want to get into a flame war. But these forums mean enough to me, that I will go to war if need be. All I ever wanted to do was help, and I am still befuddled as to how that would lead to me getting flamed.