Kat410

I had my gallbladder out about 4 years ago. I had been having gallbladder attacks for about 4 months, but I thought they were back spasms in my upper right quadrant. I had no idea. Then my urine turned very dark and my stools looked somewhat chalky. I called my PCP and got referred to a gastro. That same day I had an unbelievable attack and was taken to the ER in the worse pain I have ever experienced in my life. They did an ERCP, then the following day I had my gallbladder removed. I had a complication called Mirizzi's syndrome (which is a rare complication from an impacted stone in a duct) and this became open surgery. I spent about 7 days recovering after discharge, then was back at work within a week. After surgery I was less tolerant of fatty foods. If I ate eggs + bacon (or something like that) I would get diarrhea. Otherwise no changes. My gallbladder disease was undiagnosed and it turned out I was very sick and didn't know it. By the time I went to the ER I was jaundiced, literally in so much pain I was screaming (and I am not someone who cries over physical pain), spent 5 days in the hospital, etc. I wouldn't mess around with gallbladder disease.

Pre surgery weight 335. BMI 51. Clothing size 24 Current weight 274. BMI 41. Clothing size 18-20.

Can someone explain to me why there is so much talk of Gas-X post op? Am I missing something here? I thought the gas pain was from the CO pumped into the abdominal cavity during surgery which has nothing to with gas in the GI tract. Is this a myth/misinformation that we tolerate on these boards or is there an actual basis for taking Gas-X post-operatively that I am clueless about? Can someone please explain this (and I mean the medical basis, not something that was read on the internet)

I think it supports people to be related to reality. But, as we used to say back on the internet back in the day, YMMV.

So far the only thing that has really changed is I can't really eat eggs. I was a big egg fan pre surgery. Scrambled, omelettes and I made a killer egg salad using EVOO instead of mayo that was a staple. I find I have a distaste now for fatty cuts of meat which was not the case pre surgery. But it's not a tolerance issue. Fortunately I have no issues with spicy things. I love me my sriacha! Last night I made a great slow cooker chicken and tomatillo stew with chickpeas and lots good spices and of course jalapeños. But I do miss eggs. Simple, easy and cheap.

So great!!! Thanks for sharing your bedroom pics!!! It sounds like you are really focused on your healing now and giving your body what it needs to recover from surgery which is traumatic to a body. Take good care of yourself, sending love and light to you and keep those fluids moving!

It is really unlikely you can eat 7 ounces of food IF you are following the rule PROTEIN FIRST, VEGETABLES SECOND. Most of us can eat endless quantities of slider foods and larger quantities of liquids/soft foods. 3 weeks ago I mindlessly ate potato chips and there was no restriction whatsoever (fortunately I stopped myself quickly). I can eat a 5 oz Siggis yogurt with no restriction either - but that food is 15 G protein and 13 G Carbs/sugars. When I eat a solid, lean animal protein I can barely do 2 oz at a time. But 7 oz of a dense protein? No freaking way. Now, if you are eating 7 ounces of dense protein, you should definitely contact your surgeon because your sleeve should not be able to hold that much food. You are 3 months out and have lost 30 lbs. The sleeve does not work magic. You have to WORK THE SLEEVE. Anytime you don't do that it WILL cost you progress in your weight loss. I would recommend you track everything you eat and drink and if you are not following the PROTEIN FIRST principle, start following it. You can see my weight loss below - I am now at about 3 lbs a week. I am tweaking as I go. I have just added training/exercise into my routine. I think I can get this up to loosing 4, maybe 5 lbs a week for the next few months but we shall see.

Yes, I think those of us who have dealt with obesity for most of our lives know exactly where you are coming from. I became obese in my late 20s, I was a little chubby in my teens, but also very athletic and played sports and when I look at pictures (while my family told me I needed to lose weight) truthfully I don't see someone who needed to loose weight (shrug). But the recurring "helpful feedback" probably didn't help because I started to identify as fat when looking back, I don't think I was (weight was on the higher end of the BMI range for normal weight range was at full height in high school and wore a size 10 or 12). But I was being related to as fat, I WAS bigger than a lot of other girls and really didn't know any better. But throughout my 30s and 40s I steadily gained until I ballooned up to 335 lbs. Inactivity was probably the main culprit and then after that turning to food for enjoyment. I started to become more socially withdrawn and less comfortable in my body once I crossed 300 lbs. At 280, I was a confident, dating, plus size woman who could do everything I wanted to do, including kayaking, hiking, dating, etc. The real kicker for me was at my last physical - my A1C was at 7.0 and I was prescribed metformin. While I knew intellectually that diabetes was an INEVITABLE outcome of my weight, it was a real wake up call to be prescribed metformin at 50 years old. In addition, moving was starting to become difficult and uncomfortable. Things were starting to hurt. My Achilles on my right heel always hurt. I would get back spasms, neck issues, stiffness. I could not cross my legs when I sat down. I stopped wearing heels because I didn't feel "stable" in them. My feet would hurt after a lot of walking. Climbing stairs became difficult (and this is required if you live in NYC as I do to deal with the subway system - in many stations it's three flights up to street level). Ultimately what tipped the scales towards surgery was my health. But you are correct - this is not just a physical journey, this is been a mental/emotional journey has well and this part of it is JUST BEGINNING. I am reinventing myself. I am reinventing my life - I am becoming strong, happy and vital. I am reclaiming my health. For me this has taken courage, honesty and compassion. And it is just unfolding. Best wishes to you on your journey and what is next for you.

I never had a problem drinking liquids, including broths and protein shakes right after surgery. I didn't start to "feel" the restriction until about 4 weeks after surgery when I began introducing solid foods. I felt no restriction on liquids and pureed foods. I also did feel hunger, but the hunger would disappear as soon as I ate something of nutritional value. In my personal experience, the nature of the hunger was different than pre-surgery. It was less intense, felt more like an "alert" or "reminder" (I know that might sound weird, but it registered that way) and I didn't have the kind mental preoccupation about what to eat, what I wanted to eat, what was going to satisfy me, etc. It seems to me that there are a lot of sensations (physical, mental and emotional) that we call hunger - but I have been dissecting this for myself and come to the conclusion they are not all the same. What worked for me was to put myself on a schedule with protein shakes and broths in the first week.

OK - so here's the update on my gym anxiety! I did some soul searching and initially the most important factor in deciding what I was going to do and how I would approach this is having a plan that I would actually COMPLY with. As a busy New Yorker, where my primary form of exercise is commuting to work and walking to the park on Sundays it was critical that I would not have to take a subway to the gym, a subway home to change, deal with changing at work, etc because that is almost something I certainly would not have followed initially. It turns out there is a boutique personal training studio/fitness studio two doors down from me. I asked around the neighborhood, checked them out, spoke with one of the owners on the phone and decided to do a mix of personal training and weekly classes (personal training 2x/week, classes 1x a week). The owner was generous with his time, I was open and honest about my current health/level of activity and lack of knowledge in how to approach fitness. Today was my initial assessment and the person I am working with is great. I am happy, proud and inspired to have taken this step on. I have a new context for my fitness - which is there is really no place to go but up (which I hadn't really considered before, but it's kind of cool to get that is one of the benefits of starting at zero). There are a couple of things that made a difference in taking this step - and it was a big step for me. The first thing was being honest with myself about what I would and wouldn't do at this point in my journey. The second was acknowledging that I don't know what the $%&# I'm doing and deciding to take the coaching from someone who does know what they are doing. Then finally giving up my drama about being too out of shape to exercise. The experience of working with the trainer today was outstanding. I communicated openly and honestly and he did the same. I asked about what realistic expectations. The experience of being in the class. He communicated openly about what he saw that I could build on and where I was starting at scratch. We discussed medical history, past injuries, my current diet, what sports I had played in the past, what my goals were. I even conquered my fear of squats. Here we go! Onward and upward!

You look amazing!!! Such great work - you should be soooo proud of yourself!

It sounds like you may have a lot of processed foods in your diet - shakes, sausage, ham and cheese are all processed. At this point you have nothing to lose from experimenting, but I find not all proteins are created equal. I avoid processed meats. And, at least for me, I tend to retain weight when I eat processed foods. I would also recommend that you change up your proteins - do fresh tuna, salmon, pork, chicken, try a vegan day once a week with tofu or beans, etc. For the animal proteins spend your money on the best choices (organic, grass fed, no antibiotics, no hormones - as good as you can get it). It's not like you are eating a lot anyway. In the past on diets I have found that if I eat the same thing every day and the same number of calories every day, I loose slower. So I try to change up my calories and proteins, even though what is easiest is to do the same thing and get in a routine. You may also want to experiment with fats - good fats like avocado, EVOO, etc. and see what happens.

You mean the person you are paying to provide a service? Unbelievable. I commend you for taking the time to educate him.

I went back to work after 7 days. There is no time of the year that is not busy for me and I typically work 6 days a week 60-70 hours a week. The energy level thing has been a mixed bag. I find I am less focused than I was before surgery, tend to be moodier (my period so far has stopped since surgery) and need about an hour more of sleep at night. On the other hand I wake up easily in the morning, experience being more rested than before surgery and physically just feel a lot better. In addition I no longer have diabetes or borderline blood pressure. My vitamin D levels are normal and the subway commute (which in NY involves lots of stairs) is no longer daunting. I have had to change my sleep habits to have this work. I no longer stay up until 2 am. I feel like my energy levels are just returning. But I would not trade it off the benefits the surgery gave me.

I use Orgain and Garden of Life RAW Fit. Both are plant based, organic and available on Amazon. I mix the two using half servings. The Garden of Life tends to get really frothy in my Nutribullet on its own.

I had a similar experience. You may want to consider just doing higher protein intake - like protein shakes, bone broth, etc. which packs more protein than eggs or greek yogurt. I don't think the issue is that you are loosing too fast - but your protein intake does need to get upped and I would recommend you find ways to get it up. You can see my stats below, I am not sure what your BMI was - mine was 51 at the beginning of the 2 week pre-op liquid diet. I lost 16 lbs on that diet and 10 the first week after surgery and I am now averaging about 4 lbs/week and I suspect that will slow down at some point in the future. I find % of excess weight lost to be a better measurement because comparing pounds across genders, age ranges, BMIs and metabolic types to be like comparing apples to oranges if what you want to do is track your progress overall. By the way - when I have dieted before, I had been a very "fast looser", in particularly on organic high protein/fat diets with the elimination of all carbs outside of green veggies (however, I always hit some weird hunger/hormonal wall at about 50 lbs lost). This is the first time I have lost more than 50 lbs, and that was done in the timeframe in my signature below.

I weigh myself every morning after I pee and brush my teeth. I do not vary that. I do not weigh myself again for the rest of the day. I did not own a scale until I got serious about reclaiming my health. I did not own a scale because I did not want to confront what the scale said. That was the first thing I had to work through - my shock/shame/dramatization of having let myself get so heavy. I found pretty quickly however that wore off. Now this is simply a statement of fact. This morning I weighed 280.4. I enter my weight daily into an ap. I track my weightloss weekly. I also track all food and water. For me, it works to be rigorous. I became unhealthy because I was scared to deal with the facts. Now the facts are a tool to be mindful in the goal I have created.

Just had follow up blood work done, specifically to test for Vitamin D and A1C levels - pre surgery my Vitamin D was at 10, now at 29 (recommended is 30+). My A1C was at 7%, now at 5.8% (7 is diabetic and 5.8 is pre-diabetic). Feels so great to moving myself outside of the dangers that come with diabetes! Fortunately all my other numbers were good. And, I have just donated 10 bags of professional clothing that no longer fits me and my closets are empty. I want to thank the posters of these Forums - I don't fear the stalls (had a week 5 one, others to come no doubt), I am tracking everything, relate to the # on the scale as a tool to assess what's working and what's not working and feel great. I am proud to have lost 30% of my excess weight and can't believe what has gotten accomplished in the past two months!!!!! Life is a privilege!

I got a Kinzi scale on Amazon - it's pretty accurate. It gives the same readout as my doc's office within .1 pounds. It doesn't change readings if I step back on 10 minutes later. It doesn't give me a different reading if I stand on a different part of the scale.

I have a similar situation - while I am only 7 weeks out, my period has completely stopped. I am 50 years old, but was not pre-menopausal prior to WLS. In addition, I have PMS-like symptoms pretty regularly (moodiness, fatigue, irritability). Unfortunately I forgot to ask my doctor about this at my last appointment (but I would not have forgotten if it was a good day). I have heard others say that our fat stores estrogen, other hormones and toxins. I don't know what the science is around this. But just in my experience of being on this journey - my stamina is not what it was prior to WLS, I am moodier and tend to have more times when I am just unhappy/angry/frustrated/sad for no reason at all. The flipside, is I feel much better physically, am more active, my skin is clearer and none of my clothes fit me :-)

Had surgery on 5/27. Weight at start of 10 day liquid diet: 335 Surgery weight: 319 Current weight: 283 I have lost 30% of my excess weight based on a goal weight of 165 including the 10 day pre-op diet. Weekly weight loss: Week 1: 10.4 Week 2: 7.6 Week 3: 6.2 Week 4: 4.8 Week 5: 1.4 Week 6: 4.4

I took 1 week off. If was more than enough. I work about 70 hours a week, commute on NYC subway and the only thing I did was reduce my hours down to 60. I was not in any pain after first day. Just discomfort. I had a nutribullet set up at work for protein shakes and have a small fridge in my office. I did tell two of my staff in advance and prepared them in case I needed more support than what I had planned. I don't have the same stamina I did before surgery, I suspect it's a combination of lower calories, physical recovery, hormonal changes, etc. That said, I can still work long hours just need a little more sleep. Each person is different -- what matters is that it works for you and you have time to heal and adjust to your new way of life. Best wishes!

I was set up for to contact via email if needed and got very little nutritional counseling but am working with a nutritionist locally. I approached this from the perspective that I would need to manage all the preop and postop work on my own and that has worked fine.

I used Ready 4a Change, but used Dr Perez in Cancun. They did a good job and I was satisfied. I coordinated preop care (tests and bloodwork) with my local PCP and have a follow up visit with her next week. I was sleeved 5/26 and have lost 51 lbs including 16 on the pre op diet. My insurance did not cover WLS and chose this route given I felt my health was at stake and I wanted to act.

I am just over a month out and already there is a lot that has changed. Mostly I am just experiencing *change*, which I usually find difficult. On Sunday I cleaned out my closets. I have six garbage bags of clothes, most of which is business attire that no longer fits me. I have a small selection of clothes that were either too small for me prior to WLS or are stretchy and can move across sizes. Given that after the initial 15 lb post surgery drop, I am averaging 5 lbs a week, dealing with buying clothes that wont fit me in 3 weeks seems like a hassle. I no longer think about food from the viewpoint of "what am I going to eat". I still think about food, but it's more like the same way I think about going to Paris. I miss some of the things I loved - really good bread with butter, pizza and a great burger. But missing these foods is more like a series of passing thoughts. I barely have an appetite and when I am hungry, I am fully satiated after about 2 oz of a dense protein. I find I have a lot of attention on my wellbeing - managing my liquids, protein intake, what I'm going to wear, looking for openings to walk and move where this was not the case before. I have a very demanding job and work on average 70 hours a week (and was back to work 1 week after surgery) and to some degree I have not yet adjusted to managing my weight loss journey with my career and this will come with practice. Like many others, the NSV are really the best part. I live at the top of the hill and before surgery I needed to stop halfway up. Last night after a 14 hour workday, I hopped out of an uber at midnight and walked 3 blocks up the hill at the same pace I walk down the hill with no shortness of breath. The quality of my sleep has improved (although, I find I am needing more of it and I suspect that is temporary and probably due the fact that I am barely cracking 700 cals/day). I have no more swelling in my ankles and wrists. My seasonal allergies have been reduced by about half (I suspect because I am not eating wheat, processed foods, etc.). Since surgery I have avoided or declined a lot of social things - for no other reason that it supported my management of my diet and having no alcohol in this initial phase. I will need to train my friends to engage in other things - walks, going to the park, etc. I have worries about loose skin - I have no way to predict this. I have phenomenal skin for my age (I am 50), but I am 50 and will be loosing a lot of weight. The only question for me is how bad will it be. But I will deal with that when it is time to deal with that. I have no question that this was the best decision I have ever made - and I won't say that it is always easy. If my goal was to loose a bunch of weight, that would be easy. However, my goal is to reclaim my health and there will be nothing easy about that. Fortunately, I can be tough and patient and take the long view of things. There are things I am considering - I may permanently give up alcohol since I don't miss it. I am considering transitioning to veganism. That is not something I would have considered in the past. I do celebrate the small victories - but I don't spend a lot of time doing that. Mostly I am planning the next step, the next goal and how I am going to achieve that. When the scale moves, I just enter it into my spreadsheet where I am tracking weightloss. That said, I am coming to the conclusion of what everyone has been saying here - the surgery is a tool and if used as a tool - without question life will change for the better.