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If I haven’t eaten a lot for awhile I feel an empty scooped out tightening feeling. It’s almost like I am pulling in my stomach muscles to zip up tight pants. If I eat or drink it goes away. It happens rarely.

I rarely take calcium supplements since I’m getting so much dairy. I haven’t had lambs done yet ( months post RNY).

Cut the shake with milk-Fairlife if you can get that. It cuts the sweetness but still keeps protein high. I had to have mine really cold over ice initially.

A lot of people rave about bio oil. It’s not too $$ and I figure it can’t hurt.

Do you have any hobbies you can mindlessly do while you watch? Maybe knitting or go by a hobby store and pick up some basic hobby even if it is meant for a child. That way your hands are busy. You could do a knot blanket, latch hook or something similar. You could even get one of the books where you color mindlessly. I know you cant do that and stare at the screen but its something to have in your hands and distract you a bit. I think once you create a new habit then eventually you wont miss the eating and watching TV.

I don't think that could happen in just 6 months. Maybe it has been a problem for awhile and WLS exacerbated it or maybe had no affect. You are doing all of the right things.

Stated suddenly at 4 months stayed steady until 5.5 months then slowed. That could have been because I already lost so much. I already had biotin in my vitamin but stated using Nioxin at month 5. Now at 6.5 months still more than before but definitely slowed and I have baby hairs at my forehead but can’t see them on my scalp too much. I had it cut, only wash every 2-3 days, use Moroccan oil to prevent tangles. It may not help but mentally at least I know I’m doing everything I can to minimize it.

I had to initially but once made the mistake of getting the cherry flavored kind vs the sugar free. That caused issues.

What would be your suggestion for those of us with normal labs? Should we get a DEXA scan yearly? Start that at a certain age? This scares me and I would rather be proactive. Thanks

Normal cycles before surgery. After very heavy, every 3-4 weeks but after 4-5 months getting better. Sudden drastic weight loss really messes with your hormones

I added carbs to slow weight loss down but purposely choose food that is not something I used to like or that was super tempting. So I will eat a half to one sheet of a plain graham cracker. I knew I needed the carbs and a little more fiber. If I ate a bagel I think that would be a slippery slope for me. I also will occasionally eat a 1/4 cup of cereal on top of yogurt. It was 85 calories (granola type of cereal). That is besides adding nuts and nut butters, cooking my egg in olive oil, adding butter to veggies etc. I can't increase calories with all healthy foods yet. I still have too much restriction. I too can still lose 15 lbs on the chart and be in the normal BMI but i think for me I would look too sickly. A month ago I was still loosing 2-3 # per week was too quick and was concerned that in 1-2 months I would be getting too close to getting underweight. Besides we are carrying extra skin that the BMI chart doesn't accommodate for so I don't think 115 on me vs someone who has always been thin looks the same. I am more muscular too. Mentally its is frustrating since if I lose 2 pounds over a few days I get panicked that its too fast and I am not in control of it but if I gain 1to 2 pounds then the fear of rebounding creeps in. I have to remind myself that all day long the scale will jump a few pounds but look back at the trend over the last few weeks. Now that I have been able to bounce around and only lost 3 pounds in the past month I feel more in control. I had a thought today that it was like when I was first pregnant; it consumed every thought all day long. Then you kind of get over the newness of it. I think that's mentally where I am. I think it will take awhile of being at a stable weight to forget that we just went thru this major life changing surgery.

I was cold and felt ta little shaky but that may have been stress. Once I woke up today I felt back to normal. It was Okios lemon yogurt. I think I have had that flavor before but maybe I haven't and it was the acidity or flavoring that bothered me. It's so discouraging and it makes me feel like I will never feel "normal" again.

You can also swing by a local pharmacy and check you blood pressure.

It's both legs right? If it is one leg only then you would have a concern re a blood clot. If it is both legs I would call the MD re that symptom and the lab results. Look at you diet and see if you are eating a lot of high sodium lunch meats and if you are getting enough fluids.

My MD said if the morning of surgery I weighed in with less than a 35 BMI they wouldn't do surgery since insurance will deny it. Otherwise I think you are good.

I agree. If something was stuck I think the other food would not pass and you would be vomiting. Go back to soft food/liquids and slowly reintroduce regular foods in a few days. This happened to me early on but was back to normal within 1-2 days.

My surgeon said no soda ever. In some paperwork it says no nuts or nut butters for a year post RYN or before with caution. I see a lot of others here have peanut butter. I can have a 1/4 cup of nuts over the course of an hour and feel ok. Any specific food your MD said to avoid long term?

I don’t think I lost any the first week due to swelling etc. I think week 2 was maybe 4-5 pounds then I remained steady initially 3/week at 5 months 2-3/week. I never stalled and I didn’t follow the typical big drop initially and slowed loss over time. Take body measurements so you can see losing inches when the scale may not show you your loss.

I think part of it may also be where we lose weight. I know I had chubby cheeks and after only losing 20 pounds my face changed a lot. It’s also someone seeing you change so much in a short period of time. Friends I hadn’t seen in months noticed of course but I didn’t get as many comments compared to people I see more often.

I only went down a half size after losing about 30 pounds but a lot of flats and even a pair of flip flops were too big. I guess loosing that fat pad on the top of my foot or around my ankle was enough that I had to donate a few pairs. I also had to adjust the strap on sandals to a notch tighter.

I have days/times where I don't want to eat but I put the food in a small bowl and try to watch TV or play a game on my phone to distract me to get the food in without feeling gross. The distraction helps.

I never weight food. I use a few small bowls but I measured out a 1/4 and 1/2 servings so now I can just eyeball it. I also googled 1 and 2 oz if chicken, ground beef, cheese etc so I would have a visual. That way I would put in the cruise to amount when I recorded my food on Fitbit and now the MFP app. It was important initially so I knew the protein but also so I didn’t eat too much too quick and get sick.

To maintain I started eating a small amount of nuts, peanut butter, cooked an egg with a teaspoon of olive oil. I also switched from low fat to 2-4% yogurt, and changed from skim to 2% milk to get some more calories for the same amount of food.

I knew I needed the bypass due to GERD. My surgeon talked about how this surgery has been around for decades and is even used as a surgery to treat GERD not just weight loss. Yes the side effects and risks are higher but I didn’t want to mess with the risk of a second surgery. Just know that vitamins are lifelong and make sure you do the labs to check your levels. My MD and nutritionist both said a lot of long term issues are preventable so if you follow the vitamin guidelines your risks are even lower.

It’s still sweet but have you tried the protein waters? You may need to mix it with water but it would be another way to get your protein in.