catwoman7

there are *a lot* more people who never make it to goal than there are who lose too much weight. Also, you can always stop the weight loss by increasing your calories. I would not worry about losing too much weight *at all*. as for loose skin, you'll probably have at least some. Some people have a lot, some don't have much - it depends on a lot of things (age, how much weight you lost, how long you were obese, etc). Not much you can do about it (other than plastic surgery if you're so inclined). I can tell you that I used to worry about that incessantly, but now that I'm normal weight, I don't give a hoot about my loose skin. I feel better than I have in years, and my loose skin is pretty easy to hide. No one knows it's there but me. I'll take my loose skin over being obese any day!

A lot of people have vitamin D deficiency- not just people who have weight loss surgery. I had it before I had surgery. It's fine now (and has been for awhile) because I take supplements. And again, vitamin deficiency is rare in people who keep on top of their supplements. Most people who have problems with that are slacking off on their vitamins. im not surely if a vitamin D deficiency would cause her hair issues. I've heard that can be a problem with zinc or iron deficiency, though. My guess is she's not being consistent with taking her supplements.

I don't know about mini bypass per se, but vitamin deficiencies are rare as long as you keep on top of your supplementation.

my favorite brands are Unjury and Syntrax. I can't taste the protein in either. Unjury you can only get online on from Unjury's Web site. Syntrax products you can get at a lot of places - both stores and online. It's available through Bariatric Pal's store, in fact.

according to the BMI calculator, your BMI is 48.7. You're a great candidate for this. You're much more likely to develop issues by staying that weight than you will by having surgery. I never had any issues with surgery at all and would do it again every year if I had to. P.S. I never had any obesity-related issues, either, but I knew if I didn't get the weight off, they'd be just around the corner.

I had hives the third week post-surgery. We thought it was the ursodiol, so we stopped it for a few days. The hives did go away, but when I gradually added the ursodiol back, the hives never came back - so God knows what it was.

it varies so much between people - because of so many different factors - that it'd be hard to come up with an average. I was a very slow loser, but I ended up blowing everyone else in my group out of the water. It sounds like you're doing fine

RNY is reversible. They just don't do it unless you're having serious medical issues, because it's complicated. Original stomach and pyloric valve are left in the body, they are just bypassed.

I went with the bypass because I had acid reflux. If it weren't for that, I could have gone either way.

they almost always occur within the first three months after surgery. They're pretty rare after that (according to my surgeon).

I wouldn't do the sleeve if I had those issues, but then, I am not you. Also, most RNYers don't dump, and for those who do, you can prevent it by eating correctly (i.e., limited fats and sugars).

sorry. I can't figure out how to delete my post.

if I'm not mistaken, New Whey is a protein blend. Blends are OK when you're further out and getting most of your protein from food, but early out we were told to stick to whey protein isolate because it's the best absorbed.

450 is really low for three months out. I was at around 600-800 then - sometimes even up to 900.

you'll probably experience several stalls along the way - most of us do. As long as you're consistent in following your plan, the stall will break.

does your insurance cover surgery by other surgeons? Some surgeons have a BMI limit, others don't. If not, you'll need to lose the 90 lbs. I like the idea another poster had about getting into a non-surgical weight loss program first (a medical one) to lose the 90 lbs - THEN pursue the surgery.

rate of weight loss varies a lot between people for a whole host of reasons. One big one I see with you is that you're what we call a "lightweight". Lightweights don't lose as fast as someone who starts out at 300+ lbs. There are other factors - gender, activity level, age, metabolism rate, genetics, whether or not you lost a lot of weight pre-surgery - that will affect your rate of weight loss. I was a "slow loser" from the get-go, and look where I ended up. Your commitment to your program will have a *much* greater impact on your success than your rate of weight loss.

10 lbs a month is about what I lost after the initial drop the first month.

actually, a majority of bypass patients don't dump. I never have. The statistic I've seen thrown around on these boards a lot is that only 30% dump. I don't know if there's any hardcore research behind that figure, but suffice it to say, there are tons of us who've never dumped. Even among "dumpers", you can avoid it by not pigging out on sugar or fat (some dumpers can't really handle either at all - some can handle them in small amounts)

check out some Web sites - there are some that don't look really obvious

I've been on this and other boards a long time, and this question comes up from time to time. A few people wear them, most don't. They don't usually insert food tubes in emergency situations, although I suppose if you were in the hospital and happened to be unconscious, it could be a problem if they inserted a food tube. Although I also suppose they'd figure it out pretty quickly when they hit bottom a lot quicker than expected. I don't think EMT's would be giving NSAIDs, either. Hopefully a hospital would have access to your medical records and would know about drug allergies, the fact you had gastric bypass surgery, etc. But then if you were away from home and unconscious.... Anyway, it's probably a remote chance that anyone would need it (EMTs probably would not ), but if you want to cover all your bases, then yea - I could understand why someone would want one.

a lot of people experience that and a lot of people do think it's due to hormones (I haven't read any medical literature on this, but it does make sense, since estrogen, for one, is stored in fat cells)

those are averages. As with anything else, there are people who fall on either side of those averages. There are people who start at high BMIs and lose 100% of their excess weight. I know several , and I happen to be one of them. I continued to lose after the first year. It got a lot tougher, but it was do-able. I think one of the reasons people stop is that they start to lose their motivation after the first year, and bad habits start creeping back in. Don't be one of those people. Keep your nose to the grindstone, and continue to weigh, measure, and log everything you eat. Even when it gets tough - even when your weight slows to a crawl - even when the cravings and hunger come roaring back - stick with it! I, too, was told by my clinic staff that I'd never make it to normal weight. In fact, I read in an article somewhere that only about 10% of people who start out as super morbidly obese make it to normal weight. Most end up in the "overweight" or "class I obese" categories (which is still a helluva lot better than weighing 300+ pounds). But I made it to normal weight, and I know others who have, too. I think they tell you this so you don't have unrealistic expectations, because it's true - most people that start out at really high BMIs *don't* make it all the way. But some of us do. It takes a lot of work and commitment, but people do it. I personally can't wait to see my surgeon in a couple of weeks. He is going to be shocked when he sees I've lost every molecule of my excess weight. Ha!

I had RNY because of GERD, but it wasn't a conversion (it was my original surgery). Cured it. There are a lot of people who've had this revision because of reflux, though - I'm hoping some will see and respond to your message.

at six months out I was eating 800-1000 calories a day, if that helps. As long as you're still losing weight, it's working....