NovaLuna

It depends on how long you've actually stalled. I've had TONS of stalls on my journey. My first one was at three months out and lasted 23 days. My body just had to adjust itself. It wasn't anything that I did wrong, it just had to 'catch up' so to speak. My last stall was in mid January and last 27 days up until mid February. I've lost 7 pounds in the five weeks since my weight loss picked back up. Like I said, stalls happen. Sometimes we just have to adjust what we eat slightly such as watching our sodium intake, our carbs, our fat intake, our calories, our sugar, etc. Sometimes it's nothing we're doing wrong. Think about your diet and if you feel something needs to change slightly then try it. Or, try and ride it out. It'll pass. Maybe call your nutritionist for advice (it's helped me a few times).

For my multi's with iron (I take 1 a day) I take Bariatric Complete orange flavored (NEVER get berry flavored. It tastes like berry flavored dog food. The orange is like a stronger orange flinstone vitamin flavor wise) They are $19.99 on the site I buy them on and I always get an extra bottle for $15.00 and since shipping is $5 on that site the extra bottle essentially makes it seem like free shipping lol. They come in a bottle of 60 vitamins. For my multi's WITHOUT iron (I take two of these a day) I take Celebrate grape flavored and they are $46.15 on Amazon for 180 vitamins. For my Calcium Citrate I take Celebrate (the chewable tablet ones NOT the chewy ones) I have bought both the cherry tarte flavor and the berries and cream flavor and prefer the cherry tarte one because it tastes like a large sweetart (though I do plan on trying the orange burst flavored one as well and plan on ordering that when I order vitamins next). I've actually tried several different vitamin brands and these are just preferred (the Calcium for the price as it's $54.95 for 270 tablets on Amazon verses buying the chewy ones for thirty odd dollars and only getting 90 vitamins. It's the better deal to go for the Celebrate chewable tablets that I buy. And they actually taste good so...). I also buy ezmelts brand Vitamin A (it's strawberry flavored) and you get 60 vitamins for $17.99.

I'm almost 14 months out with the Loop DS, but I developed a wheat allergy after surgery. Likely due to the malabsortion bit in my surgery (they don't mention that's a possibility when you're learning about the surgery, and that irritates me). Anyway, I went through a similar thing about only eating salad on the menu (minus croutons because wheat flour is in just about every damn bread in existence except gluten free) because everything else either had bread in it (which has wheat), was an egg dish (I DESPISE eggs), was fish (HATE fish, minus tuna which is the only fish I like), or a beef dish (I don't eat beef. haven't had it in 19 years and that's not changing). So my choices were salad, salad, or... salad. So every time I get asked to go out I say no. But yesterday we went out to a different restaurant and they had chicken marsala on the menu! There is only one other restaurant that we go to that has that and we rarely go there since they shut down for a while due to covid so finding another restaurant that has that option made me really damn happy. It was delicious. Chicken, mushrooms, marsala sauce, zucchini, squash, broccoli, and garlic potatoes. I only ate like a fourth of the plate but it was delicious and I had leftovers so... I'm glad I have at least one more restaurant I can actually go to and not get... salad 🙄

The longest stall I had was 29 days. And then in the month following that I lost 10 pounds so... it made up for it. My most recent stall was 27 days and I've lost 7 pounds in the month following it. Stalls happen, but a two month stall means you may have hit maintenance. If you want to get your weight moving again you'll likely have to adjust what you eat. Cut your calories, carbs, fat intake, sodium, etc. until hopefully something works to kickstart it. Or call your nutritionist for advice on what to do with your diet to start your weight loss back up.

Here's something I learned along my journey... sometimes the 'hunger' you feel is actually thirst. Try drinking more and it might make it go away. It works for me about 70% of the time.

I hate to say it, but my stomach was like the LAST place I started to lose weight. You don't lose weight evenly and can lose it in the strangest places. I literally lost my butt. No joke. I have absolutely no padding back there what-so-ever and sitting on anything not padded HURTS! Hell, even sitting on something padded sometimes hurts. I barely had a butt prior to surgery and what little I had just disappeared... pants don't fit quite the same when you have no butt to speak of. 😥

I had the SADI-S/SIPS/Loop Duodenal Switch surgery almost 14 months ago now. I've had some of your symptoms, but not all: Diarrhea (maybe once a week?) Constipation (happens on occasion, but only been bad twice) Excessive foul smelling flatulence (yep. made worse by sugar alcohol. Avoid sugar alcohol's as much as you can) Severe Bloating (occasionally) Abdominal discomfort (the problem with this one is I have EOE so sometimes it's caused by that and not my surgery. I had issues with abdominal discomfort BEFORE my surgery with that) Pale coloured stools (nope) Steatorrhea (it happens. lessen your fat intake it gets a lot better. it did in my case, at least) Foul smelling stools (I think it just goes with the territory, but it's always worse when I consume sugar alcohols. Avoid them if you can) Nausea (rare occasions. Usually when I eat to fast or too much) weight fluctuation (yes, but that's due to me having hypothyroidism and not my surgery. According to my PCP and surgeon, anyway) Malabsorption (I KNEW I'd have this as they told me before my surgery that it was common to malabsorb vitamins. Especially ADEK vitamins. However, I only have issues with Vitamin A and have to take extra. I also, for some reason have issues with my potassium though I doubt that's caused by the malabsorption. I DID develop a wheat allergy though. My surgeon believes it developed due to the malabsorption because it can happen that way. My PCP and gastroenterologist aren't sure though and said there's a slight chance I already had it, but the surgery made the allergy worse. So not sure on that aspect. I was never tested for the allergy prior to surgery) I'm so sorry that you're going through all that and are miserable. I doubt anything I said really helped, but many of those issues are fairly common for the surgery, or so I've been told. I really hope things get better for you!

All of this. I'm very proud of how far I've come, relieved that I don't get gawked at when I go out in public now (when I was almost 400 pounds people would stare. I hated that), and being able to fit in something that I buy off the rack without having to actually try it on and it looking GOOD! (that was rare before my weight loss. I'd try on a dozen things and be lucky if I like even one of those dozen things. Now everything fits and my problem is deciding what I want and since I'm still losing to try to not buy too much because I'm likely to go down at least 1 or 2 more sizes. I figure with the way my clothes are fitting right now if I lose another 5 pounds I'll be in a different pants size and another 10 for a different shirt size)

First pic is me on Christmas in 2018 and second pic is me in early December 2020 (I was at my highest weight in the first pic and around 208 in the second pic)

I understand that thought process because I went through it too. I bounced around with the idea of WLS for years and never actively pursued it for a good 10 years or so when the idea of WLS first popped into my head because of the whole permanence factor. For a long time I allowed myself to be uninformed about all it entailed and just dwelled on the permanence and feared possible bad outcomes if I ever did decide to pursue it. I was in my early 20's when I first started to even think about it and I was in the low 300 pound range. I think part of me also didn't want to even try WLS because I'd heard stories about people 'who knew people' who had WLS and who either tried and failed or who lost weight and then gained most or all of it back. I didn't think I'd have the willpower to keep to a strict diet to lose the weight and then learn moderation and self control during that weight loss phase to help me keep off what I did lose, and I feared I'd be one of those failures because of that. However, a lot of things changed as I got older. My weight ballooned up and as I kept getting closer and closer to 400 pounds I was honestly fearing that every day would be my last. I thought for sure I'd die of a heart attack or a stroke or something. I had so many ER trips due to raised blood pressure, chest pains, etc. Then, in 2016 my TN flared up and I was in a world of constant chronic pain with basically no break. I was so doped up on my meds that I couldn't walk straight and was slurring my words when I talked. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, my whole world was just... pain. This lasted for 10 months. I wanted it to stop so bad that I was willing to end my own life. I didn't, of course. I tried to be strong for my family and went and saw a neurosurgeon who told me that the best option to get rid of the pain was brain surgery as meds were literally doing nothing for me. Surgery is just a temporary fix as TN doesn't actually have a cure. But it worked. I was starting to honestly consider WLS after I recovered from my surgery, but then my sister had a late second trimester miscarriage and the idea of WLS ended up as little more than a thought in the back of my mind. My sister's miscarriage hit her HARD and she fell into a deep depression and blamed herself for the loss of her son. It was months of trying to help her deal with his loss, and then her buying a house and moving, and helping her plan her wedding (I was maid of honor) so time just got away from me. About a week before the anniversary of the loss of her son, my sister learned she was pregnant again. It was the birth of my niece that really did it for me. The first time I held my niece I was hit with the realization that I may not be around to watch her grow up if something didn't change. I'd done the dieting route and failed every time. Every pound I lost, I'd gain it back. Plus some. I KNEW I couldn't do it on my own, and so I actively started to look into weight loss surgery and to pursue it, because my biggest joy in life has been watching my eldest niece grow up, and the thought of not seeing her little sister grow up broke my heart. I was 32 years old and 389 pounds when my niece was born. That was my highest KNOWN weight (I avoided the scale like the plague. I'm positive at some point I was over 400, but I never saw that number on the scale because I was only weighed when I went to the doctor. And that was usually only when I was sick. And you tend to lose weight when you're sick). I had my first consult appointment at the end of May in 2019. I did the six month weight loss program for my insurance, but due to overscheduling I ended up not having my surgery until January 23, 2020. I lost 68 pounds during the months leading up to my surgery and was 321 pounds on the day of my surgery. In the 13 months since I've lost an additional 126 pounds and currently weight in at 195 pounds. My biggest regret, like many others, is not doing this sooner. I allowed my fear of failure to stop me from pursuing this sooner. I've found that I'm a lot stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. Now I don't fear that I'm going to stray because I have accountability and willpower and can pass on all those foods that I used to never pass on. Is it hard? Yes. But, it's 100% worth it when I look at my 11 year old niece, 2 year old niece, and my 5 month old nephew and know I don't have to fear anymore that every day is going to be my last, and that I won't be around to watch them grow up. My family has always been my strength and they are really what have kept me going though everything I've been through in my life. I did this for them just as much as I did it for myself, and I'm grateful every day that I finally made this choice. In the end, the option of surgery is a very personal choice. It's something that YOU have to decide for yourself because you are the one that has to live your life and live with whatever choice you make. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best!

Stalls are 100% normal and most usually have their first one between 2-4 weeks out (it's generally called the three week stall). Stalls can last anywhere from a week to three on average. Sometimes even longer than that (I should know since I've had a 23 day stall, a 26 day stall, AND a 27 day stall. My last stall was 26 days as from the last day I lost weight to the next time I lost weight there was 26 days in between [January 18-February 14]. ). My frequent stalls are due to having hypothroidism and having to have my meds adjusted every few months so I doubt you'll end up going through that same frustration. Also, weight loss depends on a lot of factors including, but not limited to, your starting weight/BMI, your age, how active you are, how closely you follow the nutrition plan, etc. Also, the bigger you start the more you'll tend to lose in pounds compared to others, so try not to compare yourself to someone who may have started off at a higher weight than you. For reference I lost 23 pounds that first month and my surgery weight was 321 pounds (but due to health issues, I'm not active). Despite my stalls, I've still lost 126 pound in the 13 months since my surgery. It may come off slow, but it DOES come off. Try not to stress about it and try and ride it out. Follow the plan and eventually your weight loss will pick back up again. Your body just has to adjust itself first. You're doing great, btw!

It's completely normal to be scared. However, you decided to do this for a reason. Trust me when I say that you will likely regret it if you back out. There was this one lady I remember that was having her pre-op appointment at the same time as me. She was talking in the waiting room about how she'd gone through the entire process three times already only to back out at the last minute because she was scared. That was her FOURTH time! Now, I don't know if she had her surgery or if she backed out again, but the fact that she was there after backing out three times tells me that she knew that she couldn't lose the weight on her own and she needed the help that surgery offered her, but she let her fear get the best of her every time. But clearly she wanted it if she kept going through the processes again, and again, and again... Don't let fear stop you! The longer you put it off, the more you dwell in your head and the fear will just get worse. That's my advice. However, this is your life, and YOUR choice. You have to be the one who lives with whatever decision you make...

Every surgeon's office is different about what's allowed on the diet plan. Some offices do allow cream of wheat in the full liquid diet as long as it's a liquid-y consistency instead of the thick consistency you get sometimes... maybe try calling your surgeon's office or nutritionist and asking if it's on their plan or not. I'm sorry you're struggling... the first couple of weeks were the hardest for me... at least until I got to soft foods stage. You just have to remind yourself that the food selection WILL get better in the coming weeks.

I don't know if it was a fluke or if it's the jello... because I couldn't handle jello after my surgery. It made me feel like my stomach was doing flips and I had an excess of saliva as well. It also made me burp as well. Maybe avoid the jello and call your surgeon tomorrow for advice.

I think I waited a few weeks... maybe three?

My particular surgery has a 80g-100g a day minimum requirement. On average I probably get around 100g-115g of protein a day. The most I had in a day was 153g of protein.

My insurance required a six month monitored weight loss program. I had to go to both the bariatric surgeon and see a nutritionist in that time. It helped that I also attended a weight loss support group that the nutritionist held... it took three weeks to get approved though so even if they tell you it'll take two weeks be prepared to wait about three just in case they bide their time like my own insurance company did. Congrats on the start of your journey!

Funny story actually... my PCP took me off my blood pressure meds a few months after my surgery because I was experiencing dizzyness and she suspected it was low blood pressure (phone appointment due to pandemic). However, the dizzyness didn't get better after I was taken off my blood pressure meds and just got progressively worse. On top of that my tachycardia shot through the roof because I was taken off my BP meds and I had a constant headache from what I KNEW was high blood pressure. My doctor immediately put me back on my meds when I saw her in her office and my blood pressure was 196/114 with a heart rate of 133. I started doing PT for dizzyness to try and figure out what was triggering it (which it started toward the end of February 2020 and a year later is just as bad and they STILL don't know what's causing it) and we discovered something really strange... the diastolic (lower number) dropped when I sit up or get up. Literally, a whole 10-15 drop. No idea what causes it, but it's likely one of the issues with my dizzyness. The one bright side is... I don't take the meds as MUCH. I used to take them every other day (I know that's weird but my BP dropped too low if I took it every day so my doctor said it was fine to do that since it worked) but now I take them every three days and my BP has been under control (other than the weird thing with the diastolic number dropping when I sit up or get up). However, I don't think I'll EVER be off my BP meds.

Tea tends to have caffeine in it (unless it's herbal or states it's decaffeinated on the container) and we're not supposed to have caffeine for the first few weeks. My surgeon's office said no caffeine for the first month, but every office is slightly different. You might want to check with your surgeon's office if it's okay because I'm pretty sure the crystal light teas have caffeine in them even if the amount isn't that large...

I met my surgeon on the day of my surgery. All my appointments before that were all with a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant. I was told I could schedule an appointment with the surgeon if I had any questions, but I know a lot of people who had him as their surgeon and they were happy with their results so... I didn't feel the need. I don't regret it either. He did a good job and the one time I met him on my surgery day, he was nice. The nurse practitioner I usually see in his office is really nice. There is a physicians assistant I saw quite a bit too who is nice, but always behind. There was this one b*tch of a physician's assistant though that I had them put down on my file to never give me her again because she was rude and I absolutely despised her. She made me feel like sh*t the one time I met her.

Oh yeah, totally hate the body dysmorphia. I have so much loose skin, and while I'd rather have the loose skin then the fat, it makes it harder for me to see myself as smaller. I feel better when I'm wearing a shaper because it holds the loose skin on my stomach in and I feel better about myself when I'm wearing one so I rarely go out without one on. My biggest problem lately is with blouses. Some larges look great, but some look huge on me and so I don't know if I should try a medium or what, but I just can't imagine actually fitting into a medium when my pants size is still a 14. When I look in the mirror I don't see the 389 pound girl I used to be, but to me I still feel like I look 230 pounds when in reality I'm 196. I get told I look skinny by my mom and sister who are both in the 230's and my sister said she's even going to diet because she feels insecure about herself (she just gave birth to her son four months ago) which makes me feel guilty that I still see myself as big when my sister see's me as small and even feels bad at her own weight. I love my little sister and she's told me she's really proud of the progress I've made and she congratulates me on every milestone, so she doesn't want to make me feel guilty, and I know if I told her I felt that way she'd be upset with herself. Body dysmorphia is hard. I, honestly, don't know how to work past it, but I'm working on it and that's really the best we can do.

If it helps... you learn to eat different. Do I still crave foods that are bad for me? Yes. But it's easy to say no, at least for me. I also crave a lot of healthier foods. Fruit, veggies, yogurt, nuts, etc. My biggest advice to you, since you're having the DS (I had the Loop DS, myself), is to keep on top of your vitamins, your protein, and your fluid intake. Getting your fluid in will probably be a struggle for the first few months (it was for me) but it'll get better. But the vitamins are very important, so put a reminder on your phone if you have to. I have a set schedule for taking them and my vitamin levels are 100% normal (I'm 13 months post op), but the first 9 months were learning what worked and what didn't in my vitamin regiment. I dealt with a vitamin A deficiency and a potassium deficiency. Too much iron and too much calcium. So it was a bit of a learning experience. If it helps at all, I'm grateful every single day that I made this choice and am happy with the surgery I chose. If I had to do it all over again, I would.

Kinda reminds me of the time I started dreaming about BREAD of all things. About four months post op I started having vivid dreams about bread. Sandwiches, toast, cinnamon bread, etc. I told my nutritionist about it and she thought it was hilarious! 😂 Then she told me low carb bread would be fine to add to my diet and I tried some low carb wheat bread (not knowing at this point that I have a wheat allergy) and I DUMPED! I felt like I was dying it was so bad! 😭 My bariatric surgeon had told me you didn't dump with my surgery and I complained so loudly at my 6 month check up for that. They said it was weird and asked me what my symptoms were and I told them it was the WORST nausea of my LIFE (and I had brain surgery, for reference), diarrhea, stomach cramps, sweating, shaking, dizzyness, lightheadedness, etc. and they were like: 'yeah that's classic symptoms of dumping syndrome, but that shouldn't have happened'. So they did an allergy test for wheat and it came back positive. How a food allergy mimics dumping syndrome, I don't even know... Anyway, I was so scarred by the incident that I actually had bread that I haven't had it since. On one hand I miss it, but hey, wheat is in like almost EVERYTHING and it gets annoying when you look at labels and see wheat on it and then I can't eat it... why do they friggin' use wheat flour in so many things?! 😡 Anyway, yeah, it's normal. Hilarious and weird, but normal to have vivid food dreams.

Stalls are an unfortunate part of the process... at least in my experience. Everyone's journey is different, though. In my case, I have hypothyroidism so I stall more than the average person. And I've had some looooooong stalls. Several 3 weeks stalls, a 23 days stall, a 26 day stall, and even a 27 day stall. My most recent stall was in January. I had only lost 2 pounds in January and I lost those two pounds on January 18th, and then didn't lose ANYTHING until February 14th (I count this as a 26 day stall because there is 26 days between the two losses). But, February has been a good month. I've lost 5 pounds in total in the 12 days since I started losing again. I just re-evaluated what I was eating, and I thought maybe if I cut my sodium down a little it would help with some water weight and maybe I'd start losing weight again since I was also dealing with inflammation from physical therapy and was probably part of the reason I wasn't losing weight. I'm 13 months post op and even with my massive amount of stalls I've still lost 125 pounds since surgery. Stalls are annoying and disheartening, but if you either ride them out or adjust what you're eating a little, they do eventually pass.

Well that's certainly creative lol. I don't actually have a goal outfit. My goal weight is 180 pounds (it'd be nice if I can get smaller, but I set my goal while trying to be realistic) so I was trying to remember what size I was when I WAS 180 pounds (this was 20 years ago... when I was all of 13) and I think I was a 16, so I was originally thinking I'd probably settle in a 16 or MAYBE 14, but I fit into a 14 in jeans NOW and I'm 196 pounds right now so still 16 pounds away from my goal weight, so now I'm thinking my weight will probably settle me in a 12. Unless I somehow lose more weight than I expect. But I don't know... only lost two pounds last month, but this month has made up for it as I've lost 5 pounds this month. It'd be amazing if I could get down to 175 or even 170. But I'd be fine to settle in the 180's too. I used to be 389 pounds just two years ago. I NEVER in my life thought I'd ever see myself get under 300 much less under 200. It's surreal to be in the 100's for the first time in 20 years, but I'm loving it and am so proud of myself! Congrats on the beginning of your journey and I wish you the best! You can do it!