catwoman7

bypass is actually much older than the sleeve. My surgeon wouldn't operate on a smoker - sleeve OR bypass. you lose weight more quickly with the bypass due to malabsorption, but at two years out, the results between the two surgeries are about the same.

you won't be hungry for a few months after the surgery, but a lot of people with BED have issues once their hunger comes back and they start losing their motivation. You may have to work with a therapist - or as I recall, a couple of people on another forum I'm on take some sort of prescription drug for it, I believe.

I didn't do them on the liquid diet, but I started eating them probably about a month post-surgery.

my husband took a week off of work, but I really only needed him the first couple of days. I probably could have done it myself from the get-go if need be, but it really was helpful having him around those first couple of days I think I was driving within about a week.

I never lost very much, but it stopped at about seven months out

that early out, we were told to only focus on protein and fluids. once you're out a little further, a lot of programs severely limit carbs, but not all programs. Many also require you to get at least 60 grams of protein. I don't think all that many have fat requirements. You won't be eating much food during those early months, so once you get your protein in, you won't have a lot of room for much else. Once I got out a few months, I started counting calories, but not fats specifically.

if it's bothering you, just weigh once a week rather than daily. But yes - what you're experiencing is normal.

I take magnesium capsules to prevent constipation (I'm two years post-op). Not those particular ones, though. I just get CVS brand magnesium - either magnesium citrate or their "triple magnesium" capsules.

update: I looked at it again and said to avoid children's vitamins *that are incomplete*. I'd just double check the stats on Flintstones Complete and compare it to the back of something like Centrum. It could be that Flintstones Complete have more supplements than regular Flintstones. I always just took Centrum (or the CVS equivalent) to avoid the problem altogether, but the Flintstones Complete should be OK if the stats are similar, I would think.

a lot of surgeons still recommend Flintstones, but the ASBMS now recommends adult multivitamins, not children's. Some patients use fancy bariatric vitamins, but a lot of people on another forum I'm on just use Centrum or the generic equivalent. scroll down to Table 5 for vitamin recommendations. It specifically says to avoid children's vitamins: http://asmbs.org/resources/integrated-health-nutritional-guidelines

I lost 236 lbs, and am now at a normal BMI (23). I pretty much just made it my hobby. I'm on this site and others pretty much every day, just to keep it at the forefront of my mind all the time.

they're both good surgeries, and people have had success with both. It may come down to your medical history. I had GERD, which made it a no-brainer - RNY. If you have no medical issues that would make one or the other more appropriate for you, then you really can't go wrong with either one.

it's the infamous "three-week stall". I had mine weeks 2 and 3. It broke week 4, and I dropped like 6-8 lbs practically overnight. Just follow your plan and it'll break - I promise!

carbonyl iron is also well-absorbed, and is much easier on most people's stomachs than ferrous sulfate. Heme iron is the best absorbed but is very pricey.

not sure who this was meant for, but I'm almost exactly two years out.

that's odd you can't have whey. Are you allergic to it, maybe? Most people drink whey isolate protein shakes the first few weeks or months.

people usually lose more quickly with the RNY *at first* because of the malabsorption. However, at the end of two years, the average weight loss of the two surgeries is nearly identical.

your weight loss is fine. Most people lose 15-25 lbs the first month, then about 10-12 lbs a month thereafter (well, it drops again once you get six or seven months out). I'd only lost about 23 lbs when I was six weeks out, and I've lost all my excess weight - over 230 lbs altogether. So you are just fine. as for not losing the last couple of weeks - you're in a stall. You'll experience them again and again on your journey. Just stick to your plan, and the stall will break

I couldn't tolerate raw vegetables early out, but I can eat them just fine now. I eat salads - again, couldn't early out - but I have no problem with them now.

I still take a chewable at two years out because I like them, but they were really only recommended for the first couple of months (at least at my clinic). So the answer is - yes. You should be fine with regular tablets.

only about 10% of SMO people make it to a normal BMI, so she was probably just being realistic and didn't want you to set yourself up for disappointment if you can't make it. That said, some of us *do* make it. I'm 5'6" and currently weigh 140 (give or take a couple of pounds). I'd wanted to lose another 10 lbs, but my PCP said she wouldn't advise it - she'd prefer I stay in the 140s. Shortly after I saw her, I had one of those commercial DEXA scans that does the body compositions. My fat percentage is 22%. The tech said that was fine, but advised me not to go much lower, else I'd just be consuming muscle. And I know that less muscle = lower metabolism = fewer calories. I do know a few people who are our height and weigh in the 120s who maintain on 1000 kcal or less (WLS patients). No thanks. I can eat 1500-1700 calories and still maintain my weight, and that feels very comfortable to me. So I decided to listen to the advice I got and quit once I hit 140 (which is about a 23 BMI, so very healthy). So anyway, my point is, you might want to have a DEXA scan when you get down to 140-150-ish just to see if it's feasible to keep going. For me it was not.

I'm only two years out, so not an old-timer, but after the swelling goes down, your stomach will hold about 1.5 cups of food (although keep in mind that some things, like lettuce, compress down to nothing once they get into your stomach. Other things, like a piece of meat, are very dense). Beyond that, yes, you can stretch it if you consistently overeat. a majority of RNY'ers don't dump. The statistic I hear is that only 30% do, but I don't know if there's any hard-core research behind that. Suffice it to say, lots of us don't dump. I don't know if dumping ever stops (if you're a dumper) - although you can prevent it by not eating a lot of sugar or fat. so you can basically avoid these problems by 1) not making a habit of overeating and 2) limiting the amount of sugar and fat that you eat

I don't know if you've had RNY yet or not (your profile says VSG, so maybe you're thinking of revising?), but most RNY'ers don't dump. The statistics I see thrown around is that only 30% dump. I don't know if there's any research behind that, but I do know a ton of RNY'ers who don't dump and never have. I don't, either. Sometimes I wish I did...

I was so heavy that I doubt my loss was noticeable until I'd lost at least 70 lbs or so. Even now, having lost 230 lbs, some people I haven't seen in a long time don't say anything - although it's pretty obvious by their facial expressions that they've noticed. I think they're afraid I might have cancer or something and don't want to say anything - or else feel it's not appropriate to mention it.

might be it, then. Contact your surgeon and let them know what's going on. I had my first one at four weeks out and my second one at eight weeks out.