catwoman7

the hair loss is temporary - if you even lose hair at all (I did not). Even if you do, if you're like a majority of us, you're the only one who'll notice. It's rare for it to come out in huge clumps and leave noticeable spots. the saggy skin isn't ideal, but it is WAY better than being morbidly obese. Most of us can easily hide it -- but you can't hide being obese. I obsessed constantly before surgery about the loose skin and the hair thing. In retrospect, I can't believe I wasted even one brain cell on either one. In the grand scheme of things, both are extremely minor. I am SO MUCH happier being normal weight!! I would take temporary hair loss and saggy skin ANY DAY over being morbidly obese!

I guess it would hit your intestines too fast since the liquid will immediately wash the food out of your stomach (because the pyloric valve has been bypassed. There's just a hole there now that goes into the intestines). But the only things I can think of that would make you sick because of that is sugar (for people who dump, anyway) and alcohol. Although I'm not a doctor, so... I've read and heard that's it's more because when the food washes out of your stomach right away, you get hungry again. If it sits in there for awhile, you don't.

just speaking for myself here, I eat more volume now, and I eat some things that I wouldn't have eaten before - like the occasional dessert. But I don't really eat things off plan very much - as in I usually avoid crap. When I go out to eat, I still order non-fried meats with vegetables, for example. I might eat a tortilla with my taco now and then (before, I'd just eat the innards), but I wouldn't get a pasta dish - nor would I order something fried or something with a heavy cream sauce. as an example, today I had protein pancakes for breakfast with a homemade apple/cinnamon compote on top. I put oat flour in my pancakes. I would not have eaten oats when I was in weight loss mode. I stuck mostly to protein and veggies back then. I did, however, make the compote I had today with Splenda, because I still avoid sugar. for a morning snack I had a protein bar. I did eat those occasionally while in weight loss mode. for lunch I had a cup of cottage cheese with a tablespoon of tahini mixed in (healthy fat - keeps me full longer) and a homemade blueberry sauce. I would not have had the tahini while in weight loss mode - nor would I have had a second serving of fruit in one day (although I did make the blueberry sauce with Splenda - again, no sugar). I probably would not have eaten a full cup of cottage cheese, either - maybe just half a cup. I had Light & Fit yogurt for an afternoon snack, with some raspberries on top. L&F I would have eaten during weight loss mode - but I would have ditched the raspberries back then because that makes three fruit servings in one day. for dinner I'm thinking of having half a burger, on half a bun, with a half a piece cheese, one piece of bacon, a tablespoon of avocado, and a little aioli (it's left over from the other night). During weight loss mode, I would not have had the bun. The other stuff would have been OK, but depending on how many calories I was eating at the time, I probably would not have had all those - maybe just one or two of them instead of four. SOOOO to answer your question, kind of a combination of both. But I still avoid sugar and crap food most of the time, and I try to average 1700 calories/day

ahem....i used to say that, too, back when I was in weight loss mode. I couldn't *imagine* eating that many calories. Now that I've been in maintenance for 3+ years, sadly, eating 2000 kcal is not hard to do (sadly because if I go over 1700 more than once or twice a week, my weight starts heading north)

you'll have to do that for the rest of your life. it doesn't cause dumping syndrome or make you sick. It washes the food out of your stomach so you get hungry again faster.

no. We were told that was an option, but it sounds super gross to me. I just pureed things in my blender.

that's a pretty radical jump. I think I went up about 100 calories at a time

I agree with the above poster. I doubt you've stretched your stomach - you've just let bad habits sneak back in. Your tool should still work. Just go back to what you were doing that first year post-op - dense protein first, then non-starchy vegetables, and then, if you have room, a small serving of fruit or healthy carbs - like whole grains. No drinking after eating. Eat at meals only - or perhaps have a planned snack or two - but no grazing. Measure/weigh and log your food. You know the drill. It's a pain, but I still do it at four years out, and I know I'll have to keep doing it the rest of my life or my weight will come back.

P.S. I just saw the reply about water. Yep - you'll have to wait at least 30 minutes before drinking for the rest of your life.

I got up over 1000 kcal about a year after surgery but continued to lose weight (albeit slowly) until I was around 18-20 months out. I started increasing my calories then to find my sweet spot, since my body fat percentage was getting too low (I knew this because I'd had a DEXAscan) - I knew it was time to enter maintenance. It's hard to increase calories, though. I never thought when I was in weight loss mode that I could eat more than 1500 kcal a day tops, but I maintain on about 1700 (which is what I aim for every day) - and obviously, I did eventually make it up there. Just add around 100 kcal a day (maybe by adding a healthy fat - like a tablespoon of peanut butter) and wait a couple weeks to see if it makes a difference. If not, then add another 100 kcal. Rinse and repeat. You do have to go gradually, because going from like 1000 to 1500 or more calories a day would be tough.

the last 20 lbs takes forever!! Also when I gain weight now (fortunately I catch it before it gets out of control), it also takes forever to take it off. I think it took two months to lose the 5 lb gain I had over the holidays. I can understand now why skinny people complain about losing 5 or 10 lbs (I used to think they were nuts!!)

I would say most of us had to do that (not all, but most). It's a requirement of most insurance companies. My appts were about the same as the commenter above described. I could do it with either a doctor or a dietitian.

my surgeon has all his patients taking iron. I have blood tests done at least once a year, and my levels are fine - so I keep doing what I'm doing. Iron deficiencies are hard to deal with - often people need infusions when their levels get too low - so I don't want to stop taking it and risk it dropping.

1) you'll start feeling more restriction once you move to solid foods. 2) nerves were cut during surgery, so your stomach isn't always talking to your brain, telling it it's had enough. They'll regenerate, though. In the mean time, you'll have to rely on weighing/measuring your food and eating just what you measured out, because you're not going to get those signals for awhile.

I took off work for surgery in June (2015) and told my co-workers I was taking a "staycation" to work on some house projects. I started off at over 300 lbs, so no one started noticing my weight loss until October. By then, I doubt anyone linked it back to my "staycation" in June. When it did eventually come up, I just said what one of the above posters said - a medically supervised diet and exercise, which was actually true - I just omitted the part about the surgery. I rarely get those questions anymore because almost everyone has either already seen me thin or never knew me as obese, but it still comes up once in a great while when I run into someone I haven't seen in four or five (or more) years. Now, I'll sometimes tell them the truth if they happen to be obese (because we obese people know that the diet & exercise thing doesn't work), but if they're thin people, the diet & exercise excuse usually works - skinny people believe that schlock.

I agree with the poster above - it's very common. I've read it has to do with the fact that estrogen is stored in fat cells, and when you drop weight really fast, the estrogen is released and floods your system. Thus, many people have screwy cycles for the first few weeks or months (and some people have weird mood swings for the same reason). It'll eventually go back to normal.

we were told not to take gummies. Other two are OK.

I didn't lose any hair. Most people do, but for the vast majority, they're the only ones who notice it. as for saggy skin, yep - very common. Although if you ask most vets, they'll say that they'd take their saggy skin ANY DAY over being morbidly obese. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I wasted one brain cell worrying about it. i am SO much happier now that i'm normal weight!!! Plus, for most people, it's pretty easy to hide - you'll likely be the only one who knows it's there (other than your partner and doctor!)

not sure if that was directed at me (if not...sorry!), but I had gastric bypass

also, with a BMI of 40, you can get bypass or sleeve - usually even without co-morbidities. If it's 35-39, then usually you have to have two or more co-morbidities to qualify.

you may have a difficult time finding a surgeon who'll place a lapband. A lot of them don't anymore - too many problems with them. Some people love theirs, but a lot of people have had them removed.

it's because we absorb more protein from whey protein isolate than we do from the other sources you mentioned. I often drink protein blends now that I'm pretty far out and get most/all of my protein from my food. But early out, when you're not able to eat very much, you need all the protein you can get - thus, a lot of surgeons recommend isolate.

those sugar, protein, and calorie numbers are good. As for carbs - yes - a lot of them are fiber, thus it's only 5g net carbs. So the carb question kind of depends on your program. My plan wasn't an ultra-low carb one - it was kind of a balanced plan - and they would have been fine with that. Not sure about yours, so I'd check with your clinic. Even if they have you on an ultra-low carb plan, they may be OK with you counting net carbs rather than all carbs - but then again, they might not.

I take Centrum (or the CVS or Walgreens generic equivalent) as well. You have to take two of those a day. Anything that meets the ASMBS (American Society of Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery) requirements is fine. Here are their recommendations ( you have to scroll down a bit to get their vitamin recommendations): https://asmbs.org/app/uploads/2008/09/ASMBS-Nutritional-Guidelines-2016-Update.pdf

if you're at the point you can eat solid foods, then yes. But they have twice the number of calories for the same amount of protein, just so you know... some also have a lot of sugar, so you have to read labels. Plus they're kind of like glorified candy bars for a lot of people - as in very tempting and ripe for abuse - so they can't have them in their house. I always have a few lying around - I've never binged on them - and they're often good for "emergencies". I probably only eat a couple of them a month, though.