catwoman7

this sounds weird but...I wish I had that problem. Unfortunately, my body is still totally fine with sugar 😞

re: adding protein powder to protein shakes: keep in mind that you can only absorb somewhere in the 20-30 gram range at one time. If your protein shake already has 25 grams and you add another 25 grams in powder, you're not going to absorb all of it - UNLESS you sip it over the course of a couple hours (or more).

not that common with sleeve or bypass. Much more common with the DS. for sleevers and bypassers, constipation can be a chronic issue, though. A lot of us take Miralax, stool softeners, or magnesium tablets every day to stay on top of it.

extremely common. Estrogen is stored in fat cells, and it's released during rapid weight loss. Lots of women report screwed up cycles and moodiness. It'll stabilize within a few months.

food restrictions are temporary. After awhile, you'll be able to enjoy the foods you do now, just in smaller quantities (and for some food items, just as an occasional treat). I didn't really have "food funerals" beforehand, but I did go out to eat a couple of times the week before my pre-op diet to have a couple of things that I knew I wouldn't be able to have again for a few months. I didn't overdo it, though.

14 lbs in two weeks is excellent. I lost 16 lbs the whole first month! (not a revision - I have a virgin bypass). people tend to lose slower after revisions than they do a virgin surgery - but again, 14 lbs is quite a lot. I wouldn't throw in the towel yet...

I found it very liberating once I got used to it. For once in my life, my mind wasn't constantly on food! I wish I was one of the lucky few whose hunger never comes back, but unfortunately, that's only a small minority of people.

it returns for most of us sometime within the first year. Mine came roaring back at five months out. Be grateful for its disappearance - although it's kinda weird to get used to, it will never in your life be easier to lose weight than it will right now, when you're never hungry and don't give a flip about food. Things will get more challenging once it returns. I wish mine never had.

I probably eat about half as much as I did pre-surgery. I could do a small turkey wrap (or half a large one) and maybe a side dish for sure. raw carrots can be hard on my stomach. In fact, I sometimes eat some of them when I'm at risk of binging on something. They tend to irritate my stomach, so it stops a binge in its tracks (usually....). Long way of saying - raw vegetables like that can still irritate our stomachs even after being years out - so that's not uncommon... I tend to go more by calories now, since I still count them. Pre-surgery, I was probably eating 3000+. Now I eat somewhere between 1600-2000, depending on how much exercising i'm doing. On holidays I've been known to eat more than that - 2300 or so - but eating that much makes me feel like i just ate an elephant, and I feel like crap that day and the next. 2300 would have been nothing when I weighed over 300 lbs. P.S. yes - I sometimes do feel restriction - but not like I did the first few weeks & months after surgery.

I didn't have one for my gastric bypass (some people do, some don't - probably the same with sleeve). I did have one after my tummy tuck, though.

the no weight loss since last week is almost certainly a stall. They're completely normal. They usually last 1-3 weeks, and you're likely to hit several of them on your weight loss journey. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. They'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again. the nausea part - I'd let your clinic know that...if nothing else, for peace of mind.

I think I'd probably hold off on the sit ups and toe touching until you see the surgeon. Not sure about leg lifts. I wasn't supposed to do anything other than walk the first four weeks. You could always call the clinic and ask...

our clinic didn't give goals. There are so many things that affect rate of weight loss that you have little to no control over - like age, gender, starting BMI, metabolic rate - that it's really kind of pointless and can be discouraging to those of us "slow losers". If we stuck to the plan, stayed active, and our general weight trend was down, we were good. even though we didn't have goals, I lost 16 lbs the first month, and ended up losing 100% of my excess weight, over 200 lbs.

I had an issue with that about a year after WLS. They checked several things because they said there could be any number of reasons - low blood pressure, reactive hypoglycemia, inner ear imbalance, or even at UTI! They didn't find anything, but my PCP suspects it was probably glucose-related, and my glucose level just happened to be normal during the work up. So she suggested I eat something every three hours - preferably a protein. I haven't had that issue since, so that might have been it - or at least it was for me. I know a lot of people experience that because of low blood pressure, though - that seems to be the most common culprint. hope they figure yours out!!

dumping isn't very common with sleeve - although that said, it's not unheard of. this sounds more like a blood pressure or blood sugar issue, though - that is definitely NOT uncommon the first few weeks or months after WLS. Mention to your PCP - he/she might want to do a workup to see what's causing it.

10 days on a stall is normal. They normally last 1-3 weeks (although I've heard of them lasting even longer). The bloating combined with infrequent urination sounds like you're retaining water. I agree with summerseeker - may be due to salt intake.

I get nauseated after anesthesia, so I now ask for one of those patches they put behind your ear if I'm having surgery. It helps - or at least it does for me.

acid can cause decay - but probably not chipped teeth. Not sure what's going on there. Let us know what the dentist says.

if you're on a liquid diet, that gain wasn't a real gain. Probably water retention from the IV.

hunger/appetite usually come back sometime during the first year after surgery (and a minority of patients never lose it at all). After that, things get more challenging. It's hard work - but it does "work" as long as you're committed and stick with your program. during year 3, most people experience a 10-20 lb regain as your body settles in to its new set point. Of course, some people can gain much more than that if they aren't careful. basically, the surgery keeps you from eating a lot AT ONE SITTING. I'm over seven years out, and I can't eat nearly as much at one sitting as I could prior to surgery. As an example, before surgery, I could easily eat half a large pizza. Now, I can physically only eat 1-2 pieces. Again, at one sitting. the major problem is grazing. If I eat 1-2 pieces of pizza at 6:00 pm, and another piece at 7:30 pm. and another piece or two at 10:00 pm - ta da! I've eaten half a large pizza. So you really have to watch that if you want to maintain your loss. like others have said, though, it gives you a huge reset. I lost over 200 lbs, which I could have never done on my own. But after that loss, it's on you.

I read a bunch of horror stories before I had surgery and had to make myself stop. A lot of these stories are about things that rarely happen. You have to keep in mind that people post when they're having issues because they're looking for advice or support. The vast majority of us either never have complications or have minor ones that are easily "fixed" or managed. If things are all going well, people generally don't post about it. All those issues like tooth decay, bowel obstructions, etc, can certainly happen, but they're pretty rare. I had bypass. Strictures are the most common complication (besides dumping, which affects about 30% of us), but strictures only happen to 5% of us. And that's considered a "common complication" - if that gives you any idea...

thanks - I neglected to tell the OP that we just had a discussion about this three days ago!

no - a lot of people do not have these issues. Although it can happen, it doesn't seem to be a common thing. I've been on this site over seven years, and have seen maybe two posts from people who are having tooth issues. I also talked to my dentist about this before I had surgery, and he said although he'd read about it in the professional literature, he's never seen it in his patients who've had WLS. my dentist said decay is usually caused by acid, and the people who have these issues are likely frequent vomiters or have untreated GERD. I was still freaked out about it, so he prescribed a super high-fluoride toothpaste for me to use before going to bed, and he also puts a fluoride varnish on my teeth every six months. To be honest, I think he probably did this just to placate me because I was so worried about it. if you stay on top of your supplements, take care of your teeth, and have regular dental checkups, you'll likely be fine.

it doesn't matter if it's bypass or sleeve. As someone else said, any major surgery can cause hair loss because of trauma to the body. I think we see it more often after WLS than some other surgeries, though, because in addition to the surgery stress, we're also taking in very few calories those first few months. not everyone loses hair. I lost very little. I barely noticed let alone anyone else. And for most people, you're the only one who'll notice it. Most pre-ops and early post-ops worry about hair loss (and loose skin, too), but I think i can speak for most of us who are a year or more out that in the grand scheme of things, it's really a blip on the screen. I don't know why I wasted even one brain cell worrying about it.

one can always lose more weight by cutting calories, but you have to decide if you're willing to do that. Given that those of us who've lost a lot of weight have heavier bones and muscles than "normies" (because you needed extra infrastructure to hold that excess weight up. Granted, you lose some of it when you lose weight, but not all of it...) - plus you may have some excess skin to boot, you probably look 10 lbs less than you weigh. even if your body isn't quite done losing, I can tell you from personal experience that those last 20 lbs are a BEAR to lose. I was losing something like 2 lbs a month the last couple of months, despite a momentous effort. The closer you are to a normal BMI, the more you're eating at equilibrium (your calories in and calories out are about the same). It's a challenge to eat less than that. SO...either your body is done losing and it'll be a struggle to lose more - or your body is NOT done losing and you're just at the point where it's really tough and slow going to get those last few lbs off.