Arabesque

The shock of the surgery & weight loss to your body & the reduced caloric intake accelerates your natural hair loss cycle. My surgeon told me my body had better things to do with the nutrients I was consuming than grow hair - blunt but true. It will pass. How much hair you will lose & how long it will last is different person to person. But you should expect about 3 months +/-. Mine stopped when I was in maintenance so after about 4 months. I lost quite a lot but it’s just about all back now. Don’t waste your time taking supposed hair growth supplements because they won’t stop the loss cause it’s a natural process. Some people say it stopped their loss, but it was probably when the loss would have stopped without taking the supplement. The only thing they may do is make any new growth stronger. Can’t help your existing hair cause it’s already dead. A lot of us cut their hair at this stage so the loss wasn’t as noticeable & the new growth wouldn’t take as long to get to the same length. Your new hair is already growing back. It’s just growing at it’s normal rate & not at the accelerated loss rate. Best thing to do is make sure you’re meeting your protein goals & accept it’s happening. You could make it worse if you stress about it. Temporarily losing some hair is a pretty minor price to pay to the amazing achievement of losing weight. Good luck.

Tell the truth. The head work on the weight loss journey is really important. You might get an immediate go ahead or they may offer strategies to support you. Your honesty will only help you be more successful on your journey. The process is different in Australia, the psych evaluation is not mandatory but at the discretion of your surgeon’s recommendation. My surgeon said I didn’t have to go but sent a friend to one session. Another friend had two pre surgery sessions & continued to go after her surgery. Good luck.

My surgeon asked me if I had any thoughts on what I wanted to lose. I said 31kgs which would put me at 60kg - the lowest weight I’d been as an adult & where I’d often yo yo dieted down to - with a BMI of 23. He said it was a good goal. I never changed my goal but my body kept losing & seems to have found it’s own happy place. Funny thing is I was told for years I had a large frame (the old wrist measurement thing). Now all the fat is gone, I actually am small/medium boned so being on the lower half of the BMI range is fine.

Has your doctor prescribed it because your levels are low? Or have you just decided to take it yourself? Only asking cause I just had this conversation with a friend who had decided she should take it cause she’s fair skinned. I’m very fair, avoid the sun & my vitamin D levels are extremely good. I think I’ve convinced her to ask her doctor for a blood test as there are side effects if your levels are too high.

I hear you! I found a bowl with a couple of spoons of rolled oats I couldn’t eat in my fridge this morning. I put it on a lower shelf in the fridge two days ago & forgot. It was all crusty - not appetising at all.

Looking soooo good.

It can be pretty crazy especially as we all experience things differently & there’s no definite rule as to how you will progress post surgery. That’s why this forum is so helpful - so many members happy to share their story so you don’t feel as crazy. You may have some similarities to one person’s experience but be totally different to another. It was a combination of not being hungry & that two dessertspoons was enough. A quarter cup of most things was common until after month 3 post surgery if I remember correctly. I wouldn’t say I felt full & certainly not ‘stuffed’. I just didn’t want any more. It did help me understand the difference between wanting to eat & needing to eat. Some days I’d only eat half a thin pork sausage (about 2inches long) for a meal. It would take 4 days to eat a single serve of rolled oats. I used teaspoons & baby forks to eat so each bite was small. It was pretty freaky that that amount of food was all I wanted & needed. I still take ages to eat (30-60 mins depending on what I’m eating) because if I eat too quickly my restriction kicks in.

Once you start on more solid foods you start to experience the restrictive benefit of surgery. In the liquid stage everything you drink literally goes right through your tummy. And I agree, some times you may be able to eat a little more one day but not the next. Also, your tummy can be a bit cantankerous: enjoying something one day & making you feel unwell the next. A lot of people say they struggled with eggs to begin. I didn’t but I couldn’t eat one egg for months after surgery so this seems very normal to me. (Took me 3 days to eat 2 scrambled eggs.) Personally I’d think 6oz of any food at this stage would be too much. Two dessertspoons was my limit. But that was my experience. Eat slowly. Take a break between each mouthful. Allow the message that you’ve had enough to get through. You don’t want to eat until you’re full or in pain from the restriction. Good luck & congrats on your surgery.

I often question the efficacy of these products too. If you’re already taking multi vitamins &/or eating a balanced diet, do you need the extra vitamins? (I don’t take any multi vitamins at all because I get all I need from what I eat & taking them makes me nauseous.) Have you had a blood test lately? If you are low in A or B than the product may be of help. I bought collagen & silica (liquid or powder). I mixed these in my yoghurt drink every second day for more than a year. I couldn’t tell you if they actually helped my skin tighten or look better & smoother or not. I was taking them when I was losing weight & I don’t know if my skin would be the same as it is after losing weight without taking them. I don’t take them anymore. I do regularly use a hyaluronic moisturiser because my skin can be a little dry. Just check the ingredients for drug interactions & side effects. You can only try.

So sorry you are experiencing this. Just a couple of other causes to consider. Were you on meds to control your weight or for weight loss in the past? Some of those can cause anal leakage. Also it can be a side effect when you’re older of Spina bifida occulta which many people have but don’t realise. (Mine was picked up three years ago when I was 52 & not at birth.) Hope they can find a cause & solution soon.

How tall are you? Your doctor is possibly suggesting a weight that places you in the healthy BMI range - can’t tell without your height though. There’s nothing wrong with setting your own weight loss goal. A lot of people are very happy to get to a weight that is less than what their surgeon originally suggests & they find it easy to maintain. As BigSue suggested, you may reach your goal than decide to lose more. Losing the weight can motivate you to lose more. I lost an extra 11kg (24lbs) from my surgeon & my goal. I wasn’t intending to, my body just kept slowly dropping weight even though I kept upping my calories. It seems to have finally settled & I think this is where my body wants to be. And I’m very happy where I am too. Good luck with your surgery.

Agree with going back to the basics. Protein first then vegetables. Get rid of the bread & a lot of the grains during the weight loss stage (you can slowly add whole or multi grains once you’re in maintenance). Watch your portion sizes. Reduce your snacking to once a day - cheese, high protein yoghurt, chunks of cucumber, small serves of fruit. Remember why you decided to have your surgery. You can get back on track.

I think it’s a typo & should be 15-25 pounds a month not a week as it says on the website. Even people on My 600 Pound Life don’t lose 100 pounds a month. When they get down to the 200s they’re told they’ll be losing about 15 pounds a month. You’re doing well. Celebrate every pound you lose. Good luck.

I understand you wanting some quiet time when you get home. When I got home I used to say I’ve been nice to people all day long & I can’t be nice to anyone else. I was a poor sleeper pre surgery - averaging about 5 hours a night so I understand your exhaustion & low tolerance levels. Not sleeping is an awful thing. After surgery I became a world champion sleeper - about 9 hrs a night sometimes more. Unfortunately that seems to have changed & I’ll have a couple of bad nights & then a good night. Hope I’m not reverting back to my old habits. ☹️ Have to question how effective melatonin really is though. My mother was prescribed melatonin & took it every night. She was told it could take a year for levels to build up & the benefits to be realised . Well, it’s been 2 years & she still doesn’t sleep. Not sure how old you are, but poor sleep can be a symptom of peri menopause. Hope you find a solution soon.

I had the opposite thing happen - I hardly fart at all. May be once or twice a day. I have odd days when I’m more farty but I haven’t worked out why. interestingly though, when I had a liver scan I was told my abdomen was full of wind which was blurring the images yet I didn’t feel windy & didn’t have an urge to fart at all. The only time I had a few days in a row of being very windy was the Christmas before when I ate dessert a couple of times & when I made a white bean soup. But you’ve adjusted your diet so this is likely not your issue. I think your cause is be being constipated. If I hadn’t had a bowel for a second or third day I’d take a stool softener (coloxyl is gentle & you don’t get bowel spasms). See if that helps.

Gee that’s a puzzler. I would say I’m jealous but I do understand your frustration. I had bigger boobs, though not as blest as you, & I enjoy shirt buttons not straining across my bust now. A little upper breast fullness would be welcome though so I don’t have to add a tissue to fill out the top of my bras. Yep, I stuff my bras now 😆. Could be menopause/peri menopause but it wasn’t something I experienced so ... Hormones do mess with us something bad at times. Don’t want to scare you but I remember a elderly lady in my home town who said her breasts never stopped growing. She was pretty slim but had watermelon breasts (& she never wore a bra - yikes). Are other women in your family slim & large breasted? Could be a genetic thing.

I had reflux (gerd) before surgery. I had random attacks which were aggravated by stress & diet. Plus I had a very acidic stomach. I made a lot of dietary changes after I was diagnosed - no spicy food, no rich creamy food, avoided a lot of carbonated drinks which helped a lot. I also slept with the top of my bed on bricks for a few years. I was prescribed nexium but used it only when I’d get the hiccups (got really bad, painful attacks). After sleeve, I take nexium every day. Yes, I still have reflux but it’s different & possibly better - can’t explain how it’s different though. My hiccups are nowhere near as severe (thank gracious). I get some burning in my throat at night but my doctor suggested I not eat solid protein 2 hours before bed. Liquid protein was fine. I changed to when I ate my yoghurt to after dinner (to get the last of my daily protein in) & no more burning yet. Fingers crossed.

This is excellent. You’re not going to lose those huge amounts like they do on My 600lb life cause, you know, they weighed over 600 lbs which is considerably more than you. The general rule is the more you have to lose the faster you’ll lose at the beginning. The other is the closer you are too goal the more slowly you’ll lose. Plus post surgery you’re retaining quite a bit of fluid. Every pound lost is a win in my book. And don’t worry if you stall in the next week or two & don’t lose anything. This is very normal. You’ll start to lose again after a week or so. Congrats on your surgery.

Ask your medical team as the acid my cause some issues. I love pickled onions but I didn’t start eating them again until after 12 months (I chop them in my salads). Congrats on your surgery.

Me too. I get a lot of compliments about my porcelain skin so I love it. My legs are slim - I have thigh gap whoo hoo - but I do have saggy skin on my upper inner thighs like a lot of others & a general squishyness. No shirty shorts for me either but I do wear city shorts or Bermuda style shirts - slim legs to a couple of inches above my knees. I do wear shorter shorts around the house but where no one can see. 😁 Now that is hard on the eyes. No surgery for me because the scars would be equally as bad as I don’t scar well. They look good like this but the loose skin is drooping underneath. 😆 The red blotches are from me crossing my legs lol.

Yep could be part of a stall. It could be some fluid retention too depending on where you are in your cycle. Constipation can add weight as well. I’m menopausal & still retain water on a monthly cycle. Lost 400g (about a pound) from yesterday after peeing all night long - lol. I fluctuate around 1kg (about 2 pounds) in my maintenance sometimes for no reason at all. Sometimes it’s because my scales aren’t quite level on my tiled floor. Ha! Keep on your plan. It will pass & you’ll start losing again.

I think we have to change our mindsets about ‘dieting’ on this journey. I don’t follow a particular ‘diet’ or consider that I’m on a diet anymore. ‘Diet’ has such a negative connotation & has been a negative experience especially to those who’ve struggled with obesity like we have. I look at my food choices as just how I eat, what I eat, what I don’t eat or what I rarely eat. It’s not a temporary thing but a lifetime change. Honestly, I never really had cravings. Sure, some days I’d think oh some ice cream would be nice or those chips looks yummy. I never craved them as if I’d go crazy if I didn’t have any but if they were there I’d eat them. So, like @kelly Lake, I stopped keeping any unhealthy snacks in my house. If it’s not there I can’t eat it. I cut out a lot of sugar too & that includes artificial sweeteners & sugar alternatives. It’s hard because artificial sweeteners are in so many foods which is why I try to prep & cook my own food. If I do eat anything sweet now, which I do on very rare occasions, it tastes super, crazy sweet. Take the time after surgery while you’re losing & first in maintenance to research & introduce healthier & more nutritious food options, methods of cooking, etc. You may decide to become a vegetarian or vegan. (Wouldn't work in my family we’re big carnivores 😆.) Then work out what works for you to maintain your weight & still allows you to enjoy your life. You’ve mentioned how many sleevers have regained some or all of their weight. I would expect they had returned to their old pre surgery ways of eating & food choices & had not dealt with any emotional issues that may have driven them to eat & that includes cravings. I don’t know what the future will bring. I accept I’m a weak human & there’ll be many, many days when I may be tempted. But I’m going to work damn hard to keep on my new path. (Keep thee behind me Satan - lol.)

Congrats on your surgery. Yep, stalls are frustrating. You’re dropping pounds then nothing. Look at it as your body playing catch-up. It’s going through a lot & is taking a break. My longest stall was 2 1/2 weeks when I was 1 kg from goal. Grrr. It was right there ... I never changed a thing & my stalls still broke. There’s a lot talk about starvation mode & upping calorie intake. The term starvation mode is actually incorrect. The correct term to describe what is occurring is adaptive thermogenesis. This is the body reducing the metabolism rate (calories burnt) in response to a reduction in caloric intake. Weight loss will reduce the number of calories you burn but studies show it’s only about 6 calories per pound lost. But a high protein diet can boost your metabolism by 80 - 100 calories per day. So I guess the take away is make sure you’re meeting your protein goals each day to keep your metabolism up & counter balance any metabolic slow down from a reduced caloric intake. Good luck. This too will pass.

I kept it very simple: any meat or seafood, vegetables (no root vegetables), fruit, dairy, low fat, very low carb (naturally occurring like in vegetables & rolled oats) & very low sugar (none if I could help it) . Didn’t follow a particular diet just the recommended foods to eat & avoid from my surgeon & dietician. I prepped & cooked everything myself so I could control the ingredients & how it was cooked. I still pretty much follow this. Don’t be surprised if you find you struggle with a lot of food to begin. Many find their taste buds change & your sense of smell may be very sensitive. You may even find something you eat one day makes you unwell the next. Your tummy is pretty sensitive to begin. This all does improve as time passes. Honestly I was lucky, I could eat most foods ... just really small portions of course. It was my beloved vegetables that caused me the most problems - they tasted terrible or just didn’t sit right. It’s a bit of trial & error to start to find what you & your tummy likes at first. Also, I didn’t do any shakes once I got to solid food because I wanted to get all my nutrients from the food I ate (plus they were disgusting) - has worked well for me. Take this time to establish new ways of cooking & prepping foods & try new healthier food choices. Do your research & cherry pick the best ideas that work for you, enable you to meet your protein goal, get your nutrients in & not compromise how you want to enjoy your life. I don’t follow a particular diet nor consider that I’m on a diet. This is just how & what I eat. Good luck.

I was told not to lift anything for two weeks after surgery. Then a maximum of 5 kg for the next two weeks, then 10kg for another fortnight. There’s a big difference between doing a few chores around the house & having to frequently lift objects & people at work. Check with your surgeon to see what they recommend. Is there a way you can do non lifting tasks at work? May be worth a conversation with your boss too. Good luck with your surgery.