drmeow

I am about 5 years post-op and definitely regret it as well for mostly the same reasons as SleevedK above. Yes, I lost quite easily at first but that only lasted the first year. After that I could not lose anymore no matter what I tried. The worst thing? I am ALWAYS hungry. Before I had VSG, I had done low carb/keto for quite awhile and lost well and had a lot of energy. Part of that is eating plenty of fat which keeps you full. Unfortunately, after VSG I could not eat much fat. Protein first of course, but if I had too much fat I'd get sick. I also LOVE vegetables and can no longer eat much of them. I fill up quickly at a meal but am starving an hour later. I was told that at least in the first 6 months or so, hunger would never be a problem b/c the part of your stomach they remove is where the hunger hormones are secreted and that eventually that would come back. I was hungry from day one and it never changed. The biggest disappointment to me was that I did want the bypass. I went in for surgery and woke up to find I had nothing done. Doctor tried but could not pull my intestine far enough forward to attach it without stressing the incision. I went on a liquid diet for a month and lost 22 more lbs, tried again with the agreement that if it still wouldn't fit, he could go ahead and do VSG and that's what I woke up with. My surgeon has a very good reputation and I trust him. My body has always done weird things. Not sure if it's just all the fat in the omentum around the intestines that was the cause or adhesions from my previous gallbladder surgery, although he did say he broke down some of those. By 3 yrs post-op I'd not only not lost anymore but started regaining. The regain is totally MY fault, not the surgery, but I was so tired of fighting to lose with no results that I began eating junk food again and it crept up. All told, I lost 85 lbs and regained 28, and have been sort of stuck there. I'm now revisiting trying to do low carb since it works for me once I get past the initial cravings, etc. I had some GERD prior to surgery but it went away with the weight loss, only to return with a vengeance after i began to regain. It is MUCH worse than it ever was prior to surgery. I have not had an endoscopy to see if there is a hiatal hernia or anything yet; it's on my list to get checked out soon.

yes sugar is very inflammatory esp if you are insulin resistant. I also stopped NSAIDS after WLS, though I had the sleeve, and found I did not need them as I was losing weight. Unfortunately, in the last couple years my diet has gone to pot and I'm eating a lot of junk and definitely feeling it in my joints. I've regained 30 lbs and am back on this site for the motivation I need to clean up my diet again and get back to what works. Good luck to you!

Just a caution about this problem - artificial sweeteners can cause it in some people too. you wouldn't expect artificial sweeteners to raise your blood sugar but they can in some people, and then it drops very fast. This happens to me when I use some of the artificially sweetened coffee additives. In addition to Protein at meals and Snacks, try to include a bit of good fat (real butter, coconut oil, olive oil, etc) which keeps your blood sugar stable longer.

Haven't read all the replies yet so pardon me if this is repetitive, but I think you need to add FAT, not more Protein or carbs to your diet. When you add more protein your body treats it just like carbs - it stimulates insulin to store it as fat in your liver, whereas fat is burned directly. Yes, they need to be healthy fats, but that includes saturated fat as well. Research is now confirming what our grandparents knew instinctively, that fat from healthy meat (grass-fed, not grain-fed) and saturated fatty oils are much better than the polyunsaturated garbage that has been the mainstay of our diet for the last 30 years. Coconut oil, MCT oil, butter from grass-fed cows, duck fat, the skin off truly free-range chickens. Of course as WLS patients we have to modify things a bit from typical keto/LCHF simply b/c we can't eat nearly the volumes others can. But I would go back to your previous level of protein, increase your Water, and just add 100 calories of pure fat - try Bulletproof coffee for a yummy way, or make coconut fat bombs as a treat. (Google, there are tons of recipes for both)

I did Atkins about 4 years ago, pretty successfully, and know that I personally feel much better and lose better when I keep my carbs very low. I have tried to do this now, 5 mos post- sleeve surgery, but have not been able to stick to it. The difference I can see is that previously, I would load up on large salads and high fats which kept me very full and I didn't tend to snack. Now, due to the small pouch, once I eat my Protein, there is not much room for many vegetables, and I will feel stuffed right after eating but relatively hungry again in 1.5 to 2 hours. I have never NOT felt hungry since I had surgery. Unfortunately, I've found that I can tolerate virtually all types of carbs, esp sweets, crackers, etc, all the things I definitely do not need to be eating, but find myself grabbing b/c of hunger (and admittedly sometimes boredom or other emotional reasons) I'm working on the emotional stuff, getting it out of my house, etc. I just wondered if others are actively doing a ketogenic diet, and if so, how. I think one issue may be getting more fat in, and wondering how to do that with the sleeve.

Huh! I did a search on ketogenic or ketone before posting and got nothing. Thanks for the link; I'll join in that convo.

I have had Hashimoto's hypothyroidism for 14 years. I had sleeve surgery back in Oct and I've lost 58 lbs so far. I think I could probably have lost even more already except I have not made time for exercise yet and I unfortunately have found that I can eat anything I want, including all the bad junk that got me there in the first place. I don't think my thyroid disease is affecting my weight loss in any way, but I am due to have it checked again soon anyway.

My guess is that they think it might cause you to swallow a lot of air since it's "forcing" air into you. But it seems absurd since it's used for breathing, and like most of us here, I was told I absolutely had to bring it with me to the hospital, although they never made me use it while there. Considering your body is already stressed out enough from surgery, it doesn't make sense to deprive it of oxygen every time you sleep.

I keep a couple of the Atkins frozen meals in our freezer at work to use for lunches if I forget to make one at home, but rarely eat them. Each weekend I bake about 5-6 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (my store has them on sale all the time for 1.99/lb when you buy the large package) - these are the super large breasts. I put them in a pyrex dish with salt, lemon pepper, garlic and onion powder, cover with foil and bake until done (45 min usually), then portion those out for the following week. One gets made into chicken salad - mayo, celery and dill pickle relish. At least 2 get sliced or cubed to use on a salad or with another vegetable for lunch. The others get shredded and used in tacos for my kids, or I'll eat them with the salsa but no tortilla. Every other week I make a huge crockpot of homemade spaghetti meat sauce (low carb) and freeze in small portions. I eat it either plain or on spaghetti squash "noodles" or zucchini spirals; the kids use regular noodles. The other week I do the same with a large pot of home made chili. I use a Foodsaver to make portion sizes that i can take for my lunches, or pull out to eat when the kids' meal is too carby for me. I usually steam some vegetables on the weekend too and have in the refrigerator to reheat quickly.

I had surgery on Wed, home on Thurs and went back the following Monday for a half day, then regular from Tues on. I'm on my feet a lot in my job but can sit down in between patients. I never had any complications from surgery and didn't need pain meds after I left the hospital, have never vomited on any foods and only had foamies once in 6 months now. So I had an easy time of it overall.

I've just begun the process of looking into WLS focusing mainly on the RnY bypass. I live in Hagerstown, and our local hospital, Meritus, has a program. When I looked at the website, the 4 doctors listed are all DO's. I know DOs go to med school just like MDs and have had personal experience with an excellent DO for my mom's oncologist; however, I didn't realize they did WLS. Anyone have experience with Meritus for this? I could also go to Frederick or Baltimore I suppose but having things closer to home would really help with post-op b/c I am not going to have any real support here at home and will have to rely on friends if I'm unable to drive, or have complications. I have an appt scheduled for a consult late Jan with them.

I would love to hear from some people who are 5+ years out from surgery and how they have done, good or bad. I realize that there are probably fewer longterm people on this forum just by the nature of it - ie support in the early days. Does anyone know what the statistics are for bypass patients after 5 yrs? I have my first appt in a few weeks, and once I start to tell family and friends I know I'm going to hear all the negatives (I do not plan on telling many early on, even among my closest family/friends) and I'd like to be able to give some positive info back. I am doing this for my health and to be active again, not for vanity (although I sure won't mind looking better) and am 52 yrs old. Thanks!

@@JamieLogical, Thanks - that's what i figured too. I've already lost enough that if for some reason it had to be revised, it should work now. But there are certainly some positives with the sleeve for me too so after I got over the initial disappointment I'm determined to make it work. There are definitely pros and cons to both procedures and ultimately it's what works best for each person. So far I haven't had any reflux which was my biggest worry with sleeve, as I'd had some bad GERD many years ago (but my scope just before surgery showed none)

I chose the bypass b/c I was a huge sweets eater and wanted the extra accountability of potential dumping to help me with that. I also already had high blood pressure, sleep apnea and pre-diabetes with an insulin-dependent brother. I went into surgery fully confident of my decision, and woke up to find the surgeon had been unable to perform it. Despite a relatively low BMI (40 at initial consult) and no fatty liver, my intestinal omentum was so fatty that it prevented him from bringing the intestine close enough to my stomach. Since I had been adamantly against the sleeve (didn't like the idea of permanently losing a part of my stomach), I was closed up with no surgery. My surgeon put me on a fully liquid diet for 4 weeks and said that would remove enough abdominal fat to let the intestines stretch up normally. I was supposed to lose 20 lbs that way but only ended up losing 16, even though I was fully compliant. For the second surgery I signed permission to do the sleeve if he could not do the bypass, and I did end up with the sleeve. He said it had improved drastically and was very close to being able to reach but he was afraid it would leave tension on the anastomosis, so he went with the sleeve. I was very disappointed at first but it seems to be working well for me so far. I'm 6 weeks out and down 30 lbs since surgery. Annoyingly, I do seem to feel hunger if I go too long between meals, and that makes me eat too fast, so I have to watch myself and have a snack available (cheese stick, Jerky, etc) if I can't stop work to eat right away. I can also eat anything I want, including sweets. Luckily, they don't taste quite as good (usually) as I remembered, and I can't eat much before feeling full/nauseous but there is no dumping. It's making the holidays a bit challenging, as there are many goodies out at work, etc. but I just have to make sure I eat Protein frequently enough so I don't want the others.

Ummm, hopefully you realize this but fruit IS carbs. In fact it's almost nothing but carbs. Good for you in many ways, yes, but fruit sugar is absorbed super fast and then your insulin shoots up and then falls, leaving you hungry. I'm 6 weeks out and the only fruit I've had is occasionally a few blueberries in my vanilla shake. Are you using a food tracker like My Fitness pal to enter everything you eat and drink? You might be surprised by how many carbs you are getting in fruit. I will say I've been very lucky in many ways. I've not had one instance of vomiting, and only nausea the first couple days and then last week when I had a stomach bug. My biggest problem is that I can eat literally anything. yes, I have tried numerous things I am not supposed to have, but luckily only a few bites. In most cases they don't taste as good as they used to, esp when I can't stuff myself with them like I did in the past. So they mostly don't appeal to me much anymore (talking sweets here). But with regular food, like a baked chicken breast, I still eat too fast and then get uncomfortably full before I realize it. Something I have to work on. It was easy pre-op to stretch out a meal for 30 min but when you're only eating 1/4 cup of food it's pretty difficult!

Even in no-fault states, there can be different ways to go about divorce. My state is no-fault but requires a full year separation before filing, unless one spouse commits adultery (and either admits it or is proven). In that case you can file right away. Seeing a lawyer early on is the best course of action, even if you aren't quite ready to pull the plug. In my case, I had stopped working about 5 years prior, due to husband's new job requiring a lot of travel, and homeschooling our 3 kids. The lawyer let me know that homeschooling would not be looked at by a judge as a reason for staying home and having spousal support, when I had a good career in the past. So I found a job that would let me work afternoon-evenings, hired a college student to come over a few hours in the evening, and saved money for about 8 months before I broke the news to him.

+1 I thought this on reading the very first post in this thread. You (OP) just slid right by the part about him probably having an affair! I was in an emotionally abusive, controlling marriage for over 22 years, and although I was never happy, I didn't realize how miserable I really was until we stopped having sex completely. All that time I had allowed sex to be the barometer of our marriage, and accepted that intimacy as if it were enough. I ignored the lack of affection and concern from STBX (soon to be ex) for 20 years and ate to fill the loneliness and anger. Luckily I got my own counseling (when STBX refused to participate with me) and found the strength to leave him, *before* deciding to have surgery. You've made it clear to your husband that you love him, want to do counseling to save your marriage. You've done all you can - it's up to him to at least make an effort. You might want to read http://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-He-That-Controlling/dp/0425191656 /ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450031393&sr=8-3&keywords=lundy+bancroft This has nothing to do with your WLS, except that before it, you probably did not have enough confidence to treat yourself well, and now you do. Good luck.

I drank mostly Isopure powder, either vanilla or chocolate, before surgery. I still like both of those (careful to get the zero/low carb ones b/c they make high carb ones too) I also like Syntrax chocolate truffle, and their Peanut Butter cookie is OK too. I bought some unjury unflavored but have not managed to put it in anything that disguised the taste so far, and don't like it. I also bought several flavors of the Isopure clear drinks before surgery, for the Clear liquids weeks and think they are horrible now! I do love their tea flavor but it has caffeine. So many people here raved about the Premier Protein rtd so I had my son pick up a case at costco, only to find that while it tastes OK, my stomach does not like it at all. It's got lactose in it so watch out if you are lactose intolerant.

<< Consider the alternate: You can postpone surgery until after menopause. Your choice!>> Nope, I had been peri-menopausal for 5 years with only a few periods per year and none in over 18 months, and started about 3 days before my surgery (I'd been on the liquid diet for a month, probably triggered it)!

@kvoneye hey, don't beat yourself up! You're not that far out of surgery and they say it takes several months to fully recover from such a major surgery! I'm rather relieved to hear I'm not the only one who doesn't feel full much. Today, though, I made tuna salad (tuna, mayo, dill relish) and ate 1/4 cup and that did fill me up and stayed with me for several hours. Those shakes are great for the Protein but they do run through you pretty quickly and leave you feeling hungry. My doctor is OK with me walking but said he doesn't want me to push it, and definitely should not be working out hard or lifting weights yet. I have not done anything more than walk my dog, although I have been back at work all last week and do some walking there. I have a fitbit and average about 5000 steps right now and that's really all I can handle. If you think about your body trying to repair itself, AND doing it on 500-600 cal per day, when before you might have been eating 2000 cal/day or more, you can understand why you still need a lot of rest.

Just a quick note in this thread to update. I had my surgery on Oct 26 as scheduled, but just like the first time, the surgeon could not make my intestine reach close enough to my stomach to do it with tension (although he said it was much much closer due to the weight loss on the month of liquid diet I'd done). I woke up with the gastric sleeve, a big disappointment to me but I'm making the best of it. Have lost 11 lbs since surgery and have had no pain or nausea since I left the hospital. Just hope I can avoid eating the things which got me up to this weight in the first place, without the threat of dumping. Best of luck to you all!

I had surgery 10/26. I was hungry pretty much the moment i woke up and it continued through the Clear liquids stage (2 days) and the full liquids (5 days) until I was finally able to start eating real food. I'm supposed to be on pureed but doctor OK'd things like mashed up scrambled eggs and tuna fish chewed very well. I've also had refried Beans with a little cheese. My eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach! 1/4 cup and then I'm done usually. If I accidentally push it, I get a strong pain behind my sternum but subsides quickly. I have not vomited, nor had any nausea other than twice in the hospital when they gave me oral pain meds. I didn't take anything else for pain once I came home on day 2 and I went back to work 7 days after surgery. Right now my biggest struggle is not to taste tiny bites of unapproved foods - my office has food sitting out that i have to walk past frequently and I did try a few tiny garlic crackers from a gift basket - they were heavenly and went down fine, chewed to a pulp, but I know that's a slippery slope so have banned myself from trying anything else.

Yes, a cup of soup is too much. Since liquids go through quickly, you don't get that feeling of fullness. I have only just started soft foods this week and it is a huge difference from drinking shakes and Soups. Also, I would note that you might have been craving the salt in the soup, if you haven't had much otherwise. Normal diets have so much salt in processed foods, that going to a liquid diet really cuts your salt way day. I try to have a a 4 oz can of V-8 daily or a 1/2 cup of salty chicken broth.

I use Isopure Zero Carb vanilla Protein, with unsweetened almond milk (I can't tolerate dairy or soy, and the almond milk has fewer carbs/calories than dairy anyway). I change it up by adding a small amount of flavored sugar-free pudding or Jello mix (maybe 1/6 of the box). strawberry, raspberry, lime, lemon, banana and peach have all been yummy! I've also got Syntrax nectar chocolate Truffle, and I add a tbsp of PB2 powder or a tbsp of sugar-free coffee flavor ( da vinci or Torani have a lot of them)

@@Ray92 Yours does seem very different from most of the other plans I've seen. Mine is similar to others, just the length of each stage varies. Day 1-3 clear liquids only but included clear Protein such as Isopure RTD Days 4-10 full liquids including enough Protein shakes to reach at least 60 gm per day, low sugar yogurt, sf pudding, etc Days 11-21 - pureed/soft foods - use real food as much as possible but make up difference in protein shakes to continue getting enough protein Day 22 and on - regular food, chewed to applesauce consistency 3 meals, 2 Snacks per day. Although I agree with following your own specific directions I would ask why they don't have you on any protein except the bit of yogurt? It seems like you would be burning up a lot of muscle, without adequate protein intake. Are you a vegetarian or vegan? I know there are some vegan protein supplements available though I don't know anything about their quality.