Jaelzion

It's my understanding that hypoglycemia is pretty common in people with diabetes. Is it possible you are going too long between meals or snacks? Or overall not eating enough (especially since some of what you eat is lost to malabsorption)? Are you exercising a lot more? Were you taking meds for your diabetes and the dose needs to be reduced or eliminated? In any case, I'd report it to your doctors and have them help you sort it out. Severely low blood sugar is nothing to play with. Wishing you the best! 🙏

Pretty much everything I eat is either naturally high in protein (like the meat, eggs, yogurt and cheese) or fortified with protein (the coffee and the pudding). Even the almonds have 6 grams of protein. Notice there are no veggies or fruit really - that's because I don't have the capacity to eat things without significant protein and still hit my goal of at least 60 and preferably 75g per day. Over time, hopefully I'll be able to eat more and I can add fruit/veggies back in to some extent.

I didn't post about my WLS on social media; however, I just had my knee replaced and I practically live-tweeted that. So it really depends on your comfort level. Another option is to communicate about your surgery only via private message rather than posting publicly. But if you want to go public, there's no reason to hide it. It's your choice.

Good to know I'm not the only one! I rarely eat a real meal either. I eat mini-meals throughout the day. It generally looks something like this: 1. 6 AM: Morning latte (made with Kitu Super Coffee, no sugar) 2. 8 AM: 1 scrambled egg 3. 10 AM: Yogurt 4. 12 PM: 1 Chicken thigh 5. 3 PM: Sugar-free pudding 6. 7 PM: handful of almonds 8. Nighttime snack: Cheese stick It usually amounts to about 800-900 calories and 60-75g of protein. In order to hit my protein goal, everything I eat practically has protein in it. I don't restrict calories, but I do try to keep carbs low.

I had a hiatal hernia repaired at the same time I got my sleeve. My surgeon said the combination is pretty common and I had no issues. Honestly, once you get into the groove of how to eat, you won't have to worry about it for the rest of your life. There's a learning curve but it becomes 2nd nature over time. 👍

I'm only a year and a half out from my surgery, but so far I have no complaints. I had a lot of post-op pain, but my surgeon was very responsive and upped my pain meds to keep it controlled. I had no significant complications, I healed quickly and I did lose most of my excess weight (115 pounds so far). The surgery really affected my appetite and cravings have not been an issue up until this point. I do eat and enjoy my food but my appetite is much less urgent than it was pre-surgery. I allow myself a small treat now and then (a small piece of cake, etc.) and then I get right back on plan. Interestingly, something about my relationship with food changed and now I don't derive comfort from "comfort food". It still tastes good, but that emotional hit is not there anymore. Which is a good thing for me. I hope that effect lasts forever, but I'm not counting on it. 😀

My surgeon said the same. However, I do see lots of sleevers eating popcorn. So I'm not sure what the deal is. Popcorn was never a favorite of mine (tasty, but not something I ever ate more than a couple times a year) so I didn't bother to ask why I couldn't have it. I have to admit, I'm curious though.

Right? LOL, I ordered it a couple of times and it's yummy but I just couldn't justify that cost. 😀

My experience was similar to yours, I only lost 25 pounds in the first two months; however, my loss continued at a steady 10 pounds per month for quite a while after that. I know it seems like it takes forever, but at 10 pounds/month, it wasn't long before it started adding up. I was even more impatient because I had a cousin who had the bypass a few days apart from me and when I compared our progress it seemed like I was losing SO. MUCH. SLOWER. But comparing with other people doesn't work well because a lot of things go into the rate of weight loss, such as your activity level, your dieting history, your natural metabolism rate, how much you have to lose, etc. Are you sticking closely to the eating plan your bariatric team gave you? Drinking enough fluids? Getting your protein in? Eating more real food than processed stuff? Do you feel the restriction from your surgery and are you stopping when it kicks in (or just before)? Are you logging what you are eating? That really helped me, especially early on. One thing my surgeon warned me about was including too many excess carbs in my diet, especially refined carbs. So you might want to make sure you're not overdoing it there. If so, you are doing all the right things. You've lost 28 pounds in two months, so you're averaging 14 pounds per month. That's actually good and will quickly add up to a big weight loss. If you keep losing at that rate, you would be 84 pounds lighter in 6 months! Just keep going, you'll get there...

Sugar free pudding, Light and fit yogurt, a protein bar (these work for some people but they slow my weight loss for some reason). Say Cheese diet cheesecake is really good. It has 95 calories, 6 grams of carbs and 8 grams of protein. What's the catch? It's crazy expensive: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFWP912/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 One of my favorite treats is Kitu Super Coffee: https://shop.drinksupercoffee.com/products/maple-pumpkin-super-coffee I heat it up. add a dash of sugar-free flavoring and a couple of Splendas. It has 70 calories, 3 grams of carbs and 10 grams of protein. it tastes like a latte and is very satisfying. Be careful though, it's real coffee with caffeine so treat it like you would any other coffee product. Personally I don't do well with sugar-free candy, like Atkins peanut butter cups and similar products. My weight loss slows considerably if I eat them regularly. Hope that helps!

Congratulations! On the problem list in my medical record, it says "Morbidly Obese - RESOLVED" 😀 Feels good doesn't it?

I'd go back to your surgeon, even though their normal process is to end follow up at 3 months. It's not uncommon to get stuck at a certain weight for a month and a 2 pound gain may just be normal fluctuation, so neither of those seems like a major problem. But if you're hungry all the time and you don't feel much restriction in your tummy, that seems worth talking about.

For your peace of mind, you can always ask your surgeon about the plan for pain management once you leave the hospital. I kind of grilled my surgeon about that during our pre-op appointment because I wanted to be sure we were on the same page. I asked about the primary plan and also asked what we would do if that didn't work. And Dr. Zare explained both his planned initial approach and a fallback plan in case we needed it (which we did, eventually). You should be able to go into surgery understanding what to expect and I've never met a surgeon who wasn't willing to answer this question (I've had a bunch of surgeries over the years).

I don't know the answer to your question. I know you probably don't want to tell him/her what you did, but why not ask your surgeon's office? They can probably give you the best info. And in all likelihood, they've heard it all before and won't be super shocked. Oh just wanted add - my starting numbers were similar to yours. Good luck on your weight loss journey!

This is a 2nd hand experience but my cousin and I had surgery just days apart. While I was struggling through the 10 day liquid diet, his surgeon did not require ANY pre-op diet at all! I asked him how he was doing with the pre-op and he looked at me like "what's that?" 😀. My surgeon said the pre-op diet helps to shrink the liver and makes things easier to work with in there. But my cousin did fine and had no complications. So I know of one person who didn't do it and had a successful surgery.

Ground beef is a no-go for me. I don't know why but my stomach just doesn't tolerate it well.

My surgeon's recommended post-op eating plan is low-carb and I don't see that it differs significantly from the low-carb lifestyle I practiced prior to surgery. I'd say the only changes are (1) of course, I eat much smaller portion sizes now and (2) now I am very focused on making sure I get the recommended amount of protein in. Other than that, it seems to be the same old low carb way of eating to me. I keep my carbs at about 50g per day, so it's not super-low Atkins induction levels, but low. I hope that helps!

I think that's for the best. While I do allow myself the occasional treat, I don't think of it as "cheating" because it's planned and doesn't happen often. Everyone is different, but for me, if I allowed myself a cheat day every week, it would be no time at all before I was falling back into my old eating habits. Exposing myself to sugar and refined carbs that often would just be a recipe for disaster. If my very occasional treats end up causing me a problem, I'll cut those out too, but so far I've been okay. I figure we've gone through so much trouble, risk, pain and in some cases expense to have surgery - why should we undermine our efforts by deliberately making unhelpful food choices? It just doesn't make sense to undergo all that and then wilfully self-sabotage. Of course, everyone is different and there may be people who can have a weekly cheat day and still do well. But I'm guessing there are a lot of people like me too, who can't.

What a great post! I'm going to bookmark it, in case I have regain issues down the road. 😊

Same here. They said they wanted to be sure I could tolerate oral meds before I went home. The first time I tried, it didn't go well. The 2nd time, we crushed the pills and dissolved them in a little liquid and that was fine (although nasty, LOL).

This.

Hi there. For me it was the other way around - I really wanted the bypass but my care team determined that it was medically contraindicated for me. I tried hard to change their minds but in the end I went with their recommendation. I was disappointed, but it turned out okay, I didn't have any major complications and the surgery has been effective so far. However, in my case, there was an actual medical reason why the bypass was extra-risky for me. I got a 2nd opinion and the 2nd doctor agreed it was contraindicated. In your case, it sounds like the surgeon just feels the bypass will be more effective? If there is no medical contraindication, it seems like after being told the pros and cons, you would be allowed to choose the surgery you want. What would happen if you just said, "Look, I understand your reasoning, but I'm not comfortable with the bypass. I want the sleeve."? Would he refuse to do it? Could you get a 2nd opinion? Maybe if another doctor indicates that the sleeve is a viable option for you, your surgeon will relent. Have you shared your concerns about the bypass with your surgeon? Maybe with more information, you'll be more comfortable with it? In any case, it doesn't seem right for you to be forced into a surgery you're not sure you want. You're the one who has to live with it, so you should be calling the shots (assuming there's no medical issue preventing the sleeve). I'd revisit the issue and get more information, then decide for myself one way or the other. Hope it all works out for you!

I had the sleeve, not the bypass so this may or may not help, but... I had also had multiple abdominal surgeries prior to my bariatric surgery. My surgeon did say the surgery took him a little longer than usual due to adhesions and scar tissue, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. I haven't had any major complications either. I know everyone is different, but that's how it went for me. ☺️

I haven't yet. I normally only have a drink when I'm traveling and due to the pandemic, I haven't been anywhere!

I see - very interesting. Soda wasn't a big issue for me as I've always preferred flat drinks, so I never questioned my bariatric team's prohibition on it. Good to know it's not quite as bad as they made it sound, LOL.