catwoman7

I've been hanging out on various bariatric forums for about five years. Most people who regain say it's because they've fallen back into old habits. They're eating too much and they're eating crap again.

not all surgeons require it

244 lbs vs a saggy stomach? I'll take the saggy stomach any day! Plus, you may not end up all that saggy. You're young and not all that heavy in comparison to many of us. All I can say is, I will take my saggy stomach ANY FRICKIN DAY over weighing 373 lbs again! UPDATE: Whoops! I guess I already responded to this. But it's worth repeating again. Once you've lost your weight, you'll wonder why you spent time worrying about saggy skin. You will be SO much happier!

well, not *all* of us, but...yea. Some definitely get really sick on sugar (I wish I did...)

Dumping - some people's intestines spazz out after eating a lot of sugar or fat. They get the shakes, sweat, get diarrhea, etc. It's supposedly awful, but on the positive side, it keeps you from eating stuff you shouldn't be eating. It's most common in RNY'ers, but not all of us dump (I never have) (sorry LaLaLee - I couldn't get the quote/reply function to do what I wanted it to! But this is what dumping is...)

I had mine done at UWHealth in Madison - although I'm guessing you'll want someone a bit closer (??)

actually, vitamins forever are now recommended for sleeve patients, too... here are the nutritional guidelines from the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. Pages 6-7 list the supplements required for each type of surgery ("SG" is the sleeve) https://asmbs.org/wp/uploads/2008/09/ASMBS-Nutritional-Guidelines-2016-Update.pdf

I wasn't allowed to do much other than walk the first four weeks or so. I found daily walking pretty do-able..

18 lbs in two weeks is a phenomenal rate of loss. Most of us lose 15-25 lbs in the entire first month. You are going to end up on the higher end of that range, if not over. You may be basing your expectations on what you see on shows like "My 600 lb Life". Yes, those people do drop a ton of weight the first month or two, but don't forget, they are starting out at 600+ lbs. For those of us more "normal" obese people, that much of a weight loss isn't at all common.. You will undoubtedly see a few of us who drop 30 lbs the first month, but they are outliers. Your weight loss is right on target - in fact, it's above average. P.S. I *only* lost 16 lbs the first month (and that's in a month - not two weeks), and I lost over 200 lbs. Your commitment to your program is what makes the difference - not your rate of weight loss. But again, yours is absolutely fine.

22 lbs in six weeks is fine. Grazing on crap this early out is NOT. STOP DOING IT!!!

this article has been floating around bariatric boards lately. It's not peer-reviewed, but it's citing a recent JAMA study: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/12/7/16587316/bariatric-surgery-weight-loss-lap-band

there's a lot more long-term research on the bypass than any other currently used surgeries. Most of it has been positive. I've never read anything about shorter lifespans.

all plans are different. Some are ultra-low-carb, some are moderately low-carb, some don't care about carbs at all. I tried to stay under 80 and never went above 100 while I was in the losing phase (i.e., moderately low-carb). But I know a ton of people who limited their carbs to like 25 or 30 or 40 a day. Check with your dietitian and see what your plan requires.

don't increase your calories unless you're already sure you are not eating enough. Stick to your program and the weight loss WILL start up again. You are in the infamous "three-week stall", that's all. (it doesn't always happen the third week post-op - but sometime within the first month or so after surgery, almost all of us hit our first major stall. It can last anywhere from a few days up to three (or more..) weeks). Just hang in there and remain 100% compliant. Your weight *will* start dropping again. When my first stall broke after two long weeks of nothing, I dropped like 6-8 lbs within a couple of days....

some people lose a lot, some people don't lose any, most of us are somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do about, but fortunately, it's temporary and it grows back. I did some light "shedding" for about three months. No one would have noticed it but me. Even for those who lose a lot of hair, most say they're the only ones who notice. It's kind of uncommon for it to fall out in chunks (like with people on chemo). It happens, but again, that seems to be pretty unusual. I worried about hair loss and excess skin *incessantly* before surgery. In retrospect, I can't believe I wasted even one brain cell worrying about them. My life is SO MUCH BETTER now that I don't weigh over 300 lbs. I would take my loose skin any day over weighing 373 lbs again. ANY FREAKING DAY!!!

p.s. some people avoid eating much in the way of fruit and grains because they're super carb-sensitive. Carbs don't seem to have that effect on me, so I do eat them (although I do try to avoid the refined ones)

I've heard of a few people who dump on fruit, but it doesn't seem to be very common. Refined sugars and high-fat foods, like you said, are the biggest culprits. Just so you know, there are a *lot* of us who don't dump. The statistic I see thrown around these boards and others a lot is that only 30% of RNY'ers dump. I don't know if there's medical research to back that up, but suffice it to say, a lot of us have never dumped. I have no problem with fruit or grains (unfortunately, I don't have a problem with refined sugars, either. High-fat foods don't sit well with me, but they don't make me dump)

a lot of us go from one extreme to the other - from being hot all the time to being freezing all the time! It seems to happen quickly, so I don't think it's all due to our loss of "insulation"...

you should be fine. Some surgeons refuse to operate on people with super high BMIs, but your BMI would still be acceptable. He/she has probably done a lot of surgeries on people in your (our) range. They would have let you know long ago if you were too heavy to have a safe surgery. I started out at 373 but lost 57 lbs before surgery. I was 316 the morning of surgery. I had no problems at all. My pre-op diet lasted two weeks. I had 5-6 protein shakes a day plus all the low- and no-cal sugar free, non-carbonated beverages I wanted (e.g., Crystal Light). I could also have broth, tomato juice or V8 (although I think I was limited on that because of the sodium), sugar free Jello, and sugar free popsicles. I thought I'd lose weight fast because I started at over 300 lbs, but I did not. I lost 16 lbs the first month, then 10-12 lbs a month for the six or so months after that. then it dropped down to about eight pounds a month, then after the first year maybe five pounds a month. Your rate of loss is going to depend on a lot of things - age, gender, metabolism rate, genetics. They say people who lose a lot of weight before surgery don't lose as much at first, either. That makes sense because the first month of any weight loss is mostly water, and if you lost a lot of weight before surgery, then that initial water weight is long gone... anyway, I'm female and was post-menopausal when I had surgery, and I'd lost a lot of weight beforehand, so my rate of loss was steady but slow. But I was close to 100% compliant with my plan and lost every last molecule of my excess weight. It took about 18 months to lose it all.

might be an ulcer - which I believe are usually (maybe always?) caused by H pylori. So the above poster may be on to something. I had something similar a few months ago. Not nausea, but some gas/indigestion and dull pain under my rib cage after I ate or drank coffee. My PCP ran a bunch of blood tests and poked around to rule out liver, gallbladder, and pancreas issues. After all that looked normal, she said it was most likely an ulcer.

maybe it was something with the pills? This whole thing just sounds odd. Especially since you've been able to tolerate meat before.

I can't speak for the sleeve since most of what I know is anecdotal (since I didn't really research it), but most RNY'ers lose their hunger for up to a year (although mine came back early - at six months' post-op). I know of a couple who never got their hunger back, but I think that's kind of rare.

hmmm....that is weird. You usually get it when you eat too much fat or sugar. Like too much fried food, for example. Was the steak super fatty or....???

neither of those are concerns. There are a lot of people who have had bypass at a BMI of 35, and a lot of people who have had the sleeve who weigh over 300 lbs.