drmeow

Are you eating a healthy diet or just eating whatever, b/c you finally can? It would be a good idea to work with a nutritionist for your particular needs after so much surgery. Also, I noticed your surgeon's name in the margin - there is another person in this forum who has more recently had some big complications that had the same surgeon. So, perhaps your original surgery had problems that led to the other ones.

Maybe trying on some of your largest pre-op clothes (you saved at least one right?) will help you with the imaging. I've read it can take a long time for our heads to catch up with reality. OTOH, for the last few years I've not "realized" quite how large I really was, as most of my weight is in my stomach, and only by turning sideways can I really see. Of course, I have avoided that, as well as full-length mirrors, for some time. When an uncle first suggested WLS I was horrified that he thought I was that fat! But, I really am. (and part of the problem was that I knew very little about WLS and thought you needed to be 500 lbs for it)

I'm one month before surgery and I want to buy some smaller stuff when i see things I'd like, but am still too afraid to. Afraid that somehow, I'll be the only one who doesn't actually lose weight after GB, or afraid something will derail me and I won't be able to have surgery. (I had some arm pain the other day and spent a few hours panicking I might be having a heart attack and that would delay my surgery!) I have hated this summer, not wanting to buy clothes b/c of upcoming surgery, but really not being comfortable in what I had (gained a few more pounds last year) so I did go ahead and buy a few new inexpensive shirts for work, figuring I will pass them on to someone else afterward.

I've recently left a 25 year marriage. I have no interest in dating anytime soon but I suppose eventually I will. I think it's important to take care of myself right now and work on getting healthy physically and emotionally before taking that step. Don't rush it.

My surgery is coming up next month. I have told my 4 closest friends, my oldest son (22), my daughter (14) but NOT my (separated) husband. The emotional abuse of my 25 yr marriage is a bit part of why I overate to begin with, and I have no desire to hear more comments from him. Middle son (15) can't keep his mouth shut so I haven't told him either. Eventually, maybe. I started a new job last month, had hoped to get approval and have the surgery before then but it didn't work out that way, and the approval came in time to have a late June surgery. I had to delay it due to the new job start (small business, desperately needing help). I was upfront that I needed to take some time off for surgery but could wait until Sept when things in our work quiet down a lot. At first I didn't say what it was for, but my boss is more overweight than I am, and diabetic as well, and I thought it might be helpful for her to hear it so I blurted it out one day. Immediately I heard about the negatives (another employee had it and now has severe anemia, but it turns out she drinks soda, doesn't eat much real food and doesn't take vitamins). I really like my boss so I explained the real risks and benefits and laid out why I need this and she's been good about it since then, but for awhile I was really wishing I hadn't said anything. My plan is not to bring it up with anyone else unless it's a close friend who asks, or someone who is genuinely interested in losing weight themselves. I'll be sticking with the general "eating smaller portions and avoiding sugar, working out" answer for most.

@@pink dahlia I think that date must be a default if you don't put one in b/c I have seen it in lots of posts.

I'd definitely get it checked but hopefully it is just adhesions. I have a lot of adhesions from my previous gallbladder surgery (gb ruptured) an it causes pain up under my ribcage when my stomach is full. My surgeon is supposed to remove the adhesions as part of my RnY next month.

@@dsheive, you might want to start your own thread, instead of posting in a thread about unjury Protein. Also, your stats say you had surgery 1999? maybe that's the default if you don't enter a date? It does seem like a lot of solid food to be eating so soon after surgery - sausage? Which surgery? What does your food plan say you can have at this stage? Most people are still only eating soft blended foods.

Yes, that's it. Once that was discovered i was no longer worried about it being covered by my insurance.

@@ssflbelle, I think many (most?) surgeons' offices don't care much whether you lose weight before surgery or not but the 6 month thing is for the insurance companies only. Mine luckily only required 3 mos of "supervised" dieting, and all that means is that you weigh in with them monthly. I did have to meet with the NUT each time I weighed in, but I did not follow their paper diet guidelines as they are too high in carbs for me. I also had to be careful not to lose too much, b/c I was at BMI 39 and we weren't sure if I'd be approved, despite having high blood pressure. I lost about 5 lbs total and that was enough to show that I can follow a meal plan. Meanwhile I was diagnosed with sleep apnea so the BMI is moot anyway. I'm more concerned with what kind of eating plan the NUT will give me for afterwards, as that's the one that counts. I have that (3 hour!) class coming up in a few weeks (surgery Sep 9)

Mine is just OK. She has given me some good ideas for how to adjust to eating smaller meals, chewing longer, etc (buy bright red plates to use, the color reminds me I need to pay attention to what i'm eating) and at each pre-op visit she recommended focusing on just one or two bad habits, not trying to fix them all at once. i still have the last pre-op food class (3 hours) to go, so I'll reserve judgment until then, but so far she hasn't really talked much about particular foods to have or avoid. The diet handout they give at the beginning, when you have to do the supervised weight loss for insurance, is a complete joke, full of carbs, typical govt pyramid stuff. I could never have lost any weight on that, and did my usual low carb which has worked for me in the past. She did agree that was a better plan for me.

Oh, one more thing - you should read some of the sleeve to bypass revision threads. While I know there are plenty of people who are successful with the sleeve, there are a lot who end up revising due to reflux or other issues, so they might be the best to talk to.

I agree that bypass being more invasive is a myth. In bypass, your entire stomach is still there. If you have problems down the road that are insurmountable, it *can* be reversed entirely. With the sleeve, a huge part of your stomach is gone forever. That leaves a much smaller area, and while NSAIDS may not be a problem for some people, concentrating those drugs in a smaller area could lead to ulcers just as much as for bypass folks. Re-routing the small intestine is what makes it seem so much more dramatic, but again, that can be reversed if for some reason it becomes necessary. My GERD has been relatively mild the last few years, but there is no way I want to have a surgery that could potentially worsen it. Not only is it painful, but it can lead to cancer if severe enough. All that said, there is nothing wrong with taking more time to decide and be comfortable with it. And if you decide to have surgery (of any type) you are not taking the easy way out, any more than a diabetic who takes insulin is doing so, rather than changing their diet. It's a tool and it's lifesaving for many people, and it takes hard work whether you have surgery or not. Best of luck with whatever you decide!

I'm still pre-op but I love the Isopure zero and low carb powders. I get it from Amazon. The vanilla is zero carbs; the chocolate has about 3 g carb per serving - each have 50 gm Protein in 2 scoops which I add to a cup of plain or unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I also usually throw in a handful of spinach and can't even taste it. They also have Cookies n creme (didn't like it), banana and strawberry - OK but I mostly stick wtih van and choc.

yep, I covered the straps with some scrap flannel I had, just handsewed it on and have slept that way the last 3 nights and no more hives. Funny I didn't react to it for the first month I had it, but a few weeks ago I had a huge poison ivy reaction and I think my body was just hyped up from that and decided the straps were a foreign thing too. Fortunately it was an easy fix. Hope you get yours sorted out soon

Although exercise is very good for your heart, muscles and bones, it is not what drives weight loss. It's what goes in your mouth. And since right now your sleeve is controlling that, you're going to keep losing as long as you follow your eating plan. Focus on that, and get as much sleep as you need, and when your body is ready you'll feel more like exercising. Hopefully as the weight comes off, your sleep apnea and maybe even your allergies will improve and that will help. I've just found out that I'm allergic to my cpap straps! I have no problem leaving it on all night and sleep well with it but I'm breaking out in hives each morning on my face right where the straps go! So I'm going to have to do something about that - I'm not giving up my cpap! (btw, mine only covers the nose - if you have the full face kind you might do better with the smaller one)

Were you tested for sleep apnea before surgery? Do you think that might be a possibility? I was only recently diagnosed with it, despite complaining to my doctor for 2+ years about how tired I am all the time. Of course, he blamed the fatigue on my weight alone and recommended more exercise. Since getting a Cpap I sleep much better and usually wake up feeling rested, as opposed to before it when I'd wake up just as tired as when I went to bed. That aside, your info says you had surgery in June, but not what part of june. Well, even if you had it at the beginning, you're at most 7 weeks post-op. I've seen plenty of people on here saying they still had a lot of fatigue by then. Not everyone maybe, but I think it's still likely from surgery.

Apparently not everyone gets dumping, even with bypass. But I've read a lot of people do lose their cravings for sugar after sugar and don't even like the taste of it, at least for awhile. It's very important to take advantage of ANY help in that regard, I think, and build good eating habits for later on, when the "honeymoon" is over and cravings return, as well as being able to eat larger amounts. I know for me, sugar is just like a drug and it's something I need to stay away from entirely, probably forever.

@@James Marusek, I am still pre-op but this sounds very much like what my plans are. I have always done much better on a low-carb, no sugar, high fat plan like Atkins or other ketogenic diets. It does seem like most post-bypass patients avoid fat like the plague, and I do think eating plenty of good fat is the key, but was worried that maybe it would not be possible. I'm glad to know that perhaps after some healing time it can probably be done.

I had a chance to talk with the person I was originally asking about. Turns out she had surgery in 2008. She lost all her weight and even got below her personal goal, but then had some other health problems that required steroids, and started regaining. She's regained 40 lbs on her original 160 lb loss, which isn't terrible, and she does want to work on those pounds. however, it sounds like she never really changed her eating habits - doesn't like fruit and vegetables, eats a lot of fast food, though not large quantities at a time- just picks at it all day. BUT, worst things - she drinks a LOT of soda, way more than ever did in the first place. She admits to having about 4 cans of Coke (full sugar) each day, and that fills her up, leaving little room for nutritious food. she knows she has to stop the soda but so far is unmotivated enough to do it. I am relieved for myself to know that her situation is not something I'd be prone to, and that hopefully I can learn a lesson from it and avoid this.

First, this is not about me; I'm still pre-op (Sept 9!!!) I just started a new job and a co-worker had bypass some time in the last few years, per my employer (I gather it's general knowledge; we're a small group of about 14 employees, and my boss was warning me b/c this person has developed severe anemia due to malabsorption) Anyway, I don't know her well enough yet to ask any personal questions, but the other day I was eating lunch and she ate a 6 inch sub. I think she gave away the chips with a comment about regaining all her weight. She may also have had a soda but I wasn't positive. What I am wondering is, is that size meal normal eventually after bypass or does it mean she has allowed her pouch to stretch out too far? I am just afraid if it's normal to stretch that much that I will end up regaining all my lost weight. I was hoping that even after the main big-loss time that it would stay smaller than a normal stomach, helping me limit my portions naturally longterm. I know that if I don't learn to eat the right things in the right amounts, I will fail regardless but am hoping there is a little more long term help?

Sorry, not jealous a bit. I'll be having surgery soon, and even if I stayed fat forever, I'm not so shallow as to wish another to fail. I'm very glad for his success.

Gee, I'm pretty sure no one ever "hated" you. You, on the other hand, have immediately started calling names, when you picked that name specifically for its double-entendre. If you didn't want comments on it, why use it? My age has nothing to do with finding the name offensive but I would not have bothered commenting except that you responded to the first person with such a condescending tone as if the rest of us are too stupid to figure it out. I do applaud your weight loss and congrats on being noticed by the office beauty. I wish you continued success in your journey.

It's the double-entendre that is distasteful.

I will not miss the whole powdering thing, or sweating right out of the shower. I try to shower at night for that reason. Hate trying to put on a sports-type bra over my head when I've just showered - it sticks and rolls up on my back. I was so hoping to get my surgery before this summer so I would not have all the sweaty details to deal with again, but I'm scheduled for Sept. I will not miss rolling around in my bed to get momentum to get up LOL! I have a waveless waterbed and it's hard to get over the side when you sink down to the bottom. I will not miss the contortions to tie my shoes without passing out!