catwoman7

41 lbs since August is 10 lbs a month. That's pretty normal for someone at your current weight (if 183 lbs is still correct). My last 50 lbs came off really slowly - took six months.

fatality rates on these surgeries are extremely low. 0.3% for gastric bypass, even lower for sleeve. That means you have a 99.7% (or greater) chance of making it through. The techniques have improved so much over the last few years and they do so many of them now that they've pretty much become routine surgeries. People have died having their tonsils taken out. But seriously - what are the odds of that happening? Same with bariatric surgery. It's not the same as it was 30 or 40 years ago. I would not worry about dying on the operating table *at all*. You're much more likely to die from an obesity-related condition than you are from the surgery. In fact, doing it could save (and extend) your life!

I could start introducing hard foods after I was done with the soft phase. I had to introduce them gradually since I was warned some things might not sit well for awhile (and they were right....). Although you might want to play it safe and keep eating soft foods until you talk to them on Tuesday. I'd be afraid of hurting something. I don't think I was given the green light to start introducing hard foods until I was further out. It's been a couple years since I had surgery so I don't remember exactly, but I'm thinking it was more like two months out. But again, programs are all different.

that's kind of hard to answer because all programs are different. Some are still on purees, some are in the soft food stage. Call your clinic. I'm guessing they're not open again until Tuesday, so to be on the safe side, I'd stick with purees until you talk to them *just in case*.

if your group doesn't do it (this is the first time I've heard of one that does, but maybe it's just never come up before), there are commercial outfits that do them. In fact, some of the DEXAscan places do RMR tests for an additional cost. Sometimes you can get both done through university sports facilities for a reasonable cost - although not always. The university I work at charges the same for a DEXAscan as the commercial outfits do (I don't know if they offer RMR tests - I've never checked into it. But I know people from forums who have had both done at the same place)

that sounds like it measures RMR rather than body fat percentage - if so, the two tests (i.e., that and DEXAscan) are very different animals I thought about having my RMR tested, but I've figured out through trial & error that my maintenance level is about 1700 kcal/day. If I go over that too many times in a week, my weight starts heading north. I'm guessing at this point, the test would pretty much tell me what I've already figured out. But it might have been helpful early on, though.

I think most of us felt that way right before surgery...

it was probably a year before I ate a crunchy taco. I did eat fruit fairly quickly - but I think I waited until I was cleared for solid food. Also, I didn't (and still don't) eat much of it because of the sugar. Maybe one serving a day.

you're going to fail the surgery if you keep this up.

I got most of my things at thrift stores like Goodwill. I blew through sizes too fast to spend a lot of money on clothes. I'd buy something, and a month or two later it would be way too big...

I would suspect sodium (which makes a lot of us retain water) or full-ish intestines. Both can easily make you gain a couple of pounds. Otherwise, you would have had to have eaten c. 7000 extra calories to put on two "real" pounds.

None.At.All except maybe that I waited until I was almost 60 years old to do it!

one word. DEXAscan. I used that to figure out if I could afford to lose any more weight. My body fat measured 21%. Both the technician and my PCP said that was OK, but no, I should not try to lose any more weight (glad I had it because I'm certainly not near the bottom of my "normal" BMI range. Had I not known my fat percentage was getting so low, I would have kept pushing to get my weight lower...)

I haven't had the ice cream *bars*, but I've had Enlightened Ice Cream. It's very good (so is Halo Top), but I can't have it around very often as I usually eat too much of it.

you're going to be hard pressed to find a surgeon willing (or capable) of doing that. They have to do a complete takedown of the RNY first - which, as I understand, is a pretty complicated surgery - and something they do only if the patient has severe medical problems with it that can't be resolved any other way. They would never do that because someone "didn't lose enough weight". Besides, there is nothing wrong with losing 40 lbs in four months. What exactly were you expecting to lose?

I know the stats aren't encouraging, but on the other hand, there seem to be a lot of us around on these forums (this one and others I'm on).

I think you need to call your doctor. It may turn out to be something simple, but I sure would want to know.

I'll have to find them again. I work in a research library, so they may have been in our licensed databases (e.g. Medline Plus), in which case I can't send them because of licensing agreements, but I can send the citations. I''ll have to wait 'til I get back to work next week.

studies I've read have said 10-13%

that's not going to last forever. Focus on developing healthy habits. It gets way harder the farther out you get. addendum - wait - you're a year out and dropping weight while eating crap? I thought at first you were a new post-op. If there's no way to explain that, then I'd mention it to my doctor.

it's going to depend on a number of factors - age, gender, starting weight, genetics, metabolism rate. Also, people who lose a lot of weight before surgery often don't have huge drops the first month. That is most likely because a lot of what people lose the first month of any weight loss program is water, and if you lost a crap ton of weight before surgery, that water weight is long gone. Again, don't compare yourself to others. Your commitment to your program is what is going to determine your ultimate success - not your rate of weight loss. Some idiot medical resident at my clinic pointed out to me during my six month post-op appt that I was behind my co-hort (and I was...). I'd love to see the look on his face if he saw me now...

I've never actually seen stats on this, but I've been hanging out on bariatric boards for about five years, and I'd say the average weight loss for the first month (not first two weeks - first MONTH) is 15-25 lbs. I know you see people who drop 30 lbs the first month, but unless they're on "My 600 lb Life", they're an outlier. It's just not all that common, but most people seem to have that expectation. I lost 16 lbs my first month, and I weighed almost 400 lbs. I've also lost 100% of my excess weight. Your body will lose at its own rate. The only control you really have is to stick to your program. So do that. Keep your nose to the grindstone and don't compare yourself to others.

I had two strictures early out (well, they're almost always early out...). I had to wait a few days before they could get me in to dilate the second one. They said to go to the ER, though, if it got to the point I couldn't even keep fluids down. You can live for a few days without food - but not fluids. Sorry to hear you're going through this. It'll all be behind you soon. I never had any further problems with them after that second dilation, and I'm super happy I had the surgery!

the first one can take several days. If it gets to be a week or more, though, I'd let your surgeon know...

yea - that's not dumping syndrome. I'm not sure WHAT it is, to be honest...very weird!