LadySin

Ask your surgeon because the hospital may supply you with one as well, so you'll have 2, awesome! The order my doc gave to the hospital says place binder on patient in pre-op

This time a year ago, I was lying in hospital having had open surgery. I had my gastric band removed, including the port which had been replaced using mesh which had rolled up and caused a few issues including abscesses and infections on and around my liver.
I had the band removed, and a ‘fobi pouch’ variety of the RNY - with a slightly longer but narrower stomach than is usual, with a small silastic ring sutured loosely around its middle - no stomach stretching for me!
Initially I made my weight goal the same as my gastric band low - 80kg (176lbs) and then as the weight dropped, reset it at the top of the ‘not overweight bmi’ range for my height 70kg (156lbs) - this seemed wildly optimistic to me.
I dropped just below that at my 6 month mark - remember, though, I was a ‘lightweight’ at the start at 106kg (234lbs) pre surgery, down from my 260 top weight pre the gastric band 10 years ago.
I dropped another few kilos when I got gallstones, bringing me down to about 145lbs or so, and all together pretty healthy and happy. But getting OFF my weighloss treadmill (metaphorical) was a challenge. Changing to maintenance eating was harder than I imagined, and giving away that desire to see the scales drop a small bit every morning was very hard indeed. I could see how eating disorders could take root at that point!
Anyway, in July I decided that if I was going to have a successful maintenance, exercise needed to be a regular feature in my life. I started the Couch 2 5k programme using an app, and from not being able to run for one full minute at the beginning, I now run 5-8km (3-4 miles) three times a week, and do weights at the gym the other four days. And I am loving LOVING the new me! Being mid 50s and starting running is a bit unusual, but building muscles long since forgotten is a new challenge and I love seeing the gains. Running a bit faster has replace being a bit lighter. Lifting a bit heavier has the added bonus of toning and making that lose skin a bit less bothersome!
I eat 1200 calories a day, including 70-80g Protein at least. I have three meals a day, with one healthy snack - necessary to get the calories up - I really needed to stop losing weight as I got down to 130lbs briefly and it felt TOO light - 135-137 is a good range for me, mostly psychologically! I try to limit useless carbs - if I eat sweet rubbish (even sweetener instead of sugar) the sweet cravings return with a vengeance. I suspect this is addiction-like and I will have to guard against backsliding in this area for a long long time.
The worst part of the journey? - dealing with people constantly asking when I will stop losing weight, telling me I am too thin, telling me I am taking it too far etc. Only women, by the way - blokes have been uniformly complimentary. Most women too - I love being told I look strong. People comment on how much more energy I have, how strong I seem. People literally don’t recognise me in the street. I see them thinking ‘I think I know this person’ and then jolting in surprise.
I have not one, single bad word to say about this whole experience - but, I utterly, religiously and with the help of many here, stuck to my programme. No excuses. Some slips - but straight back in the saddle (after a ‘penance’ session on the hated elliptical!)
THIS WORKS.

Hello everyone,
I originally wasn’t planning on joining or posting on this forum, but I’ve decided I want to tell my story to help and educate others. I’m 24 years old and the gastric sleeve surgery left me with a leak one week post op. I will first explain my symptoms in order to aid others if they may experience the same as I believe we should be educated on knowing the warning signs so we don’t just shrug it off as dehydration as I did. It started of with abdominal pain and feeling light headed, at first I assumed I needed to drink more and rest. I could feel something wasn’t right as I was 100% pain and nausea free the previous days. The next day I woke up my left shoulder and neck was hurting but it went away as I stood up. I felt nauseous from the upper abdominal pain I ended up vomiting. I went to emergency and there I had a fever, my heart rate was around 120 I believe. They suspected it was gastro or dehydration so they hooked me up to iv fluids. Blood test results came back and my inflammation markers were over 300 (normal range is 0-10) I had a ct scan where they discovered I had a leak. I was transported to the hospital where I had the surgery per my surgeons request. There I had a picc line inserted and had an endoscopy. The endoscopy showed nothing, and the surgeon suggested the leak was the size of a pinhole. To keep this short and not bore anyone, this is my 7th week in hospital about to be my 8th. I was lucky as I had no abscesses, therefore requiring no surgical intervention besides the endoscopy. I’ve had multiple ct scans, blood tests. I am nil by mouth and TPN overnight. I also suffered from another complication during my stay, picc line sepsis which wasn’t fun and I had an overnight stay in icu. I’m now on 3 different antibiotics including vancomycin for the sepsis. Currently I’m allowed the bariatric diet (liquids) on day two and getting lower left back pain.
It’s been a long, hard journey and everyday it’s difficult to stay positive as you think it’s never ending; but there will be an end eventually you just need to be patient and think about how strong you are for enduring this.

Thank you everyone for reading.

I was able to take pills right after I left the hospital. I never crushed them, but what were your discharge instructions?

Quiet as it's kept, some of us do too
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
huh ? what? What? I didn't say anything

That's a crappy thing to do and I hope I don't feel that way after losing more weight. If you ate yourself up to a weight high enough to qualify for WLS you have no right to judge, even if you were able to get help. Obesity is an illness. Compulsive overeating is a an illness just like alcoholism. Surgery is a treatment, and we were lucky enough to be able to have it.

No.

Hey everyone,
So everything went fast forward today. I got my call and approval. Surgery is scheduled for Jan. 2nd. What a way to welcome the New Year! My 3 pre-op appts are on the 18th - anesthesia, pre-nutrition, and pre-op with the doc.
I was actually experiencing that food funeral mentality over the last 9 months. Bizarredly enough, now I'm having a hard time eating after going through my last month of pre-op diet that I had to do for 6 months. I lost no weight in the first 5 months - even gained a little - and then in the last month I lost 11 lbs but I've also had a little bit of anxiety about the surgery.
Am thankful for this forum. Have lived such an isolated life at this weight. Nice to have people who understand the anxiety and being able to read everyone's challenges and successes.
❤️ Jeanne

I'm always amazed at how nice most of the vets are to the folks that come in with "Help! I'm blah blah years out and I've regained a million pounds! What did I do wrong? Did I stretch my stomach?" You seriously have no clue what you could have done wrong? I don't know about you, but if I was smashing mostly healthy food everyday and GAINED weight consistently for such a long period of time, I'd be scared as f**k! I would be rolling my ass to the MD because clearly my body has me fucked up. That ain't normal.

I'm always amazed at how nice most of the vets are to the folks that come in with "Help! I'm blah blah years out and I've regained a million pounds! What did I do wrong? Did I stretch my stomach?" You seriously have no clue what you could have done wrong? I don't know about you, but if I was smashing mostly healthy food everyday and GAINED weight consistently for such a long period of time, I'd be scared as f**k! I would be rolling my ass to the MD because clearly my body has me fucked up. That ain't normal.

OMG! That reminds me. I used to say this all the time..."Look at her she has no meat on your bones, that's why she is so cold." So NOW I'm the skinny girl. LOL

Same. I had RNY soon after you (11/6) and I've tried a bunch of veggies, fresh sourdough (which is supposed to be easier to digest, but still), Carba Nada Pasta (high Protein, lower carb), etc, and no issues. Like you, I haven't gone wild and tried to eat cake or anything, so maybe sugar or super friend food might, but so far, so good.
Also, because this group tends to get a wee curious, I should add the sourdough was from a local bakery, and actually had spent grain added to it. Spent grain (leftovers from beer making) is actually awesome in bread, because most of the starches are used up by the beer brewing, and what's left is Fiber and protein. BONUS!

😂 That could be the title of a very entertaining thread!

I don't truly know if I dump, since my ulcer basically makes everything uncomfortable in one way or another lol... but my thought process is... once the ulcer heals... just follow the diet plan to the letter and not even be in a situation where I may dump. If it doesn't go in my mouth, I won't dump. And I will never know if I dump or not. The idea of it alone scares me, since I've had some badtimes with the ulcer that are similar to dumping syndrome and I know I don't want to feel bad.
My boss that ate all that food... he DOES actually get dumping sometimes... but still eats junk, knowing he will feel awful. He just eats the crap... then prepares to go to the bathroom or lie down. Dysfunction junction. lol.

I haven’t even had my surgery yet and I’m tired of all the stall posts. Would be nice to have a FAQs for new members thread at the top of every forum. Not sure if people would read it but it may help some people. The first FAQ should address that the search feature is your friend. Your question has probably been addressed before and to Please start there.

Annnnnnnnnnd I'm back.
I'm going to need this site to consider creating dedicated sections for Stalls and Regrets.
That's all you see these days in regards to need threads and it's kind of repetitive.

Thanks for the update! I'm pre op and I lift but not effectively. I'm just using resistance bands with a bar, and an ab roller. I LOVE the roller. I can definitely see some results. Everywhere really. Hope to keep this up for life!

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I've had multiple abdominal surgeries for endometriosis and had little gas. Wonder how this surgery will be? I'm expecting it to be a breeze because the other ones I've had were horribly painful!

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If you've got Spotify, here are some I like. Mostly relatively recent stuff.


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Guys I'm feeling so fucked up. So much stuff is going on that's not bariatric elated. I really need some help. I'm at work right now so I can't take my proper medication. The next best thing for me is music because I refuse to acknowledge the pile of treats and crap given to me by various people at our holiday party today. I'm tired of my playlist. Send me some positive vibes. If you can embed a video from youtube great! If not just type the song name and artist. I'll listen to any genre anyone submits as long as it's positive!
Help me Obi-wan Kenobi. You're my only hope!

Ugh. Your single word coerced me into scheduling an appointment. lmao. December 31st. Right before my deductible rolls over. Woot. lol.

Don't compare yourself to others...
And not just about weight loss
But sure it's *possible*, it will depend on so many factors that you just can't anticipate. But set/smash goals and never ever ever sell yourself short ❤

Why why you denied? Also I was wrong, there are other January threads >.< Oh well, we can till party of here!

But what ARE you eating now?
You can start with 3-4 ounces of lean Protein followed by veggies to fill you up.
If you are gaining weight though you need to evaluate what you are eating that needs to change. If you are not ready to do that and make the changes?
Have you reached out to your team?

I am 8 months post op VSG and have lost 85 pounds! My surgeon is surprised I hit the goal so quickly and can’t predict whether or not I’ll keep losing or stay here. Any tips on how to maintain and not continue to lose????