ShoppGirl

Yes, I had sleeve 3.5 years before I started my journey to revision. It’s considered fairly “new” In the medical community but finally got endorsement by the ASMBS so it should become more prominent now but finding info on it as a standalone procedure was tough enough, nevermind as a revision. Like @Arabesque said I had a really difficult time making my decision between the SADI and bypass but i did finally land on the SADI and I am happy with it. This week at six weeks out I was down 40 pounds (including the weight I lost on my two week preop diet which was basically two shakes and a low carb dinner). With the sleeve I felt like I was on a diet. The reduction of the hunger hormone helped me to keep my portions small and get down to 167 (i’m 5’8”) but I was able to eat more than expected from day one. Not a lot more but enough that once the hunger came back and I was eating several times a day I was gaining from even healthy food. The fact that I felt like a failure for not reaching my goal and that I was gaining in spite of my best efforts discouraged me and bad habits started slipping in bit by bit but rather quickly I gained it all back plus some. Things that have been different with the SADI. For one, my level of commitment. I quit going to my follow up appointments at the Dr and stopped posting here when I regained a big chunk of weight post sleeve because I was so embarrassed and I never went to the in person support groups to begin with. After I started my journey to revision I began posting again and committed to doing the in person groups when they meet monthly. I also have made even more than the minimum required appointments with my team to acquire as much information as I can and I asked to do my follow ups more often which helps for now with my anxiety over healing but also will help to keep me accountable In the future. In terms of the surgery itself it seems to have made more metabolic changes for me. For one thing I was actually a salty snacker before my sleeve but post sleeve I craved sweets. I actually woke up from my sleeve surgery craving various desserts but with SADI I was craving Fish Tacos (a meal I never even enjoyed pre surgery) and I have been eating all kinds of stuff I had to force myself to eat pre surgery and I’m actually enjoying them. I mean not like pizza but still pretty good I am back to regular food now and I may have a sugar free popsicle once a week. Other than that I don’t really want sweets and my food cravings are very quiet and good choices are really good. In terms of motivation and energy I have a ton more. Part of that may be due to my exercising this time compared to the sleeve in which I didn’t do any. This time I started out a little shy of a month just walking to the end of my street and back and now I’m up to over 15k steps a day (sometimes 19k) and I’m getting ready to try YOGA at my community center (waiting for my 8 weeks post op just to be safe). I feel fantastic. It’s not just he honeymoon phase either. I actually wake up hours earlier eager to start my day and at night when I hit the bed I feel accomplished and I sleep so much better. Everyone I talked to said fat was okay with the SADI and carbs were the enemy but that has not been my experience. Maybe processed carbs are bad but in things like veggies, fruit and oats or brown rice are okay for me. I actually do lower fat because I had my gallbladder out so think almond milk and 2% cheeses or non fat yogurt (surprisingly not bad tasting though). In terms of carbs if I remember correctly she started me at. 60g and then increased me to 80 because of my activity. They did not resleeve my stomach so my return to food progressed a little slower than yours will if your getting re-sleeved though so that will not be the case this early out. You won’t be able to eat the volume of food that I do at this point. I can actually eat every 3 hours. Most times I’m already up but I have an alarm set for 8 and I wake up and have my proffee which I finish by 9 with my multi vitamin and then every three hours (12,3 and 6) I have a small meal with my three calcium chews. My last meal being a snack at 9pm and I take my magnesium and hair vitamins. I seriously have so much energy. I care so much about what I put into my body. I make everything from scratch and before it was all about convenience (hated to cook) and I won’t lie and say I love exercise but I want to do it. In fact I’m nursing three blisters now and they just weren’t healing with the continued training so I’m having to force myself to slow down today. It’s so weird. I haven’t exercised in over 20 years. I have avoided it at all costs!! I mean I had to make the decision to get started of course but the surgery gave me the energy to do it. Ooh, the recovery was a bit tougher for the SADI, well a lot for me but they took my gallbladder too. I was okay without pain meds once I finally was able to pass gas (like 7 times one morning) but I spent five days in hospital because I couldn’t pass gas and my pain was only managed on meds they wouldn’t send me home with. Once I got home I took half of one pill because my husband forgot to get the Tylenol and I had to wait for him to get it I the store but after that i managed without it. With my sleeve I work up and refused pain meds and was fine the next day. In fact i almost forgot I had surgery when I was out front and asked my husband to pass the basketball to me. So night and day difference in recovery but it wasn’t horrible. Just not expected. Anyways, I’m sure that once I get closer to goal I will be tempted by less desirable food choices and it won’t be as easy as it is now but I honestly do feel like it will be different this time. For one, I have more support but also, I am actually changing my entire lifestyle this time. I am even looking for organic and cleaner ingredients in my food instead of just processed junk that’s diet friendly. I feel great and I want to continue feeling this way for a long long time. That got kinda long, sorry. I really hope some of it helps.

I don’t know much about marathons but I assume that’s great time. Just the fact that you finished a half marathon is great in my book. Congratulations!!

Thank you everyone!! I am going to wait until next week because I will be 8 weeks out. NP says I’m good to do anything but weights now but I just feel like it may be more strenuous for me than she thinks. Maybe not but at least I will feel safer then so I can focus on the poses instead of whether I am hurting myself. I actually may even pull up some stuff on you tube or whatever and just watch now so maybe some of it will at least be a little familiar. I did order some cheap leggings on Amazon that had three In a pack for $29 and they were garbage. The material was not nice at all. I am sending them back. I will get one pair of nicer ones because I will need them to walk outside soon anyways. I figure I can get Navy and wear them with different tops. Right now I am nursing THREE blisters anyways. I had the one on the side of my foot for like 5 days now. Started small but I put a blister cushion on it and tried to keep doing my 5-7 miles for two more days and it just got bigger and bigger. Now it’s huge. Then I had the brilliant idea that I could just wear my slides and walk inside but apparently those squish my toes too close together because the second day of that I got little blisters on the inside of my pinky toes. My feet are probably like we had a lot of years of a really cushy job, what in the heck are you doing to us. It will be good to have something else to do to give my poor feet a break on between.

So I found these drinkable yogurts that are super convenient if your running out the door and don’t want another shake or your shirt on protein for the day BUT, the healthy ones are quite expensive. I just made my own. I used a container of yogurt, 1/2c of unsweetened almond milk and 1/4 cup mango. It’s a tad thick so I may try more milk next time. I made it in my nutra bullet and next time I will probably just drink it out of that cup because I feel like I’m wasting a lot of it sticking to the sides of that and another glass but regardless it’s easy and good for yogurt on the go. Just thought I would share.

Hello. I am 6 weeks out and down 41 pounds as of today (which includes a 2 weeks low carb preop diet where I lost 13 pounds). I went from a BMI of 39 to 33 and will be 32 with one more pound loss. I was 235 when I had my sleeve and lost down to 167 but I stalled there for a few months and then started gaining it all back plus 23 pounds. Aside from a few blisters that are slowing my walking down I feel fantastic. I have more energy and motivation then I have had in years. I’m exercising (walking 5-7 miles a day) and making all my meals from scratch. I am also planning to start yoga the week after next when I am 8 weeks. The NP actually said 6 weeks is okay but I’ve never done it so I’m afraid it will be strenuous and I’d rather be safe than sorry. I did have a pretty tough recovery. I was in the hospital for 5 days because they couldn’t get my pain to a level that was manageable with meds they were willing to send me home on. Well once I finally passed gas like 5 times I was fine without any pain meds but it still was a far tougher recovery than my sleeve. Not sure why but with my sleeve I was home and out front the next day and asked my husband to pass me the basketball because I forgot I had surgery and that was with no pain meds. This time they also took my gall bladder out though because it looked bad. I wasn’t expecting it because I never had any symptoms so we didn’t discuss it but the post op pathology came back that I had gall stones so it saved me from another surgery I guess. I suggest discussing some of the things like that which may pop up during your surgery and what your wishes are since they can’t wake you up to ask. I was kinda surprised that mine went ahead and did it but the NP said his thought was that it already looked bad and that the anticipated quick weight loss was going to only make it worse. Anyways, I took it easy for the full 6 weeks this time. My floors have never been so disgusting. I have done laundry because I have the pedestals and dishes and that’s about it. My hubby has freshened up the bathrooms and changed the sheets but other than that it’s all waited for me. I confess that it’s still waiting. I am supposed to be cleaning now but I sat down for lunch and got started on here 😂 My surgeon does not believe in resizing the stomach so my surgery was only on my intestines. This made my recovery in terms of food tolerance go way quicker. I am back to normal food already. I had raw veggies in my spring rolls even and that was fine. Of course ask your team before you do it. I didn’t have any food tolerance issues after my sleeve either though. I have not had any of the diarrhea that they warned me about. They said some of their SADI patients had it for 3 months. One had it so bad it interfered with work. I have been eating very healthy though. I was actually constipated In the beginning and even with the stool softeners I had to do milk of magnesia a couple of times but now I am able to eat a bit more fiber in my diet so I am trying to cut back the stool softeners slowly. if you don’t log your food now I suggest the Baritastic app. You can log EVERYTHING there. You food, weight, measurements, exercise, moods, even your bowel movements and you can also set notifications for your vitamins (although I don’t hear them so I have alarms set as well). I really like looking at the trends and graphs to see how I am progressing. A fitness watch is really good too. I had a much older Apple Watch that I dusted off and it makes it so much more fun to do my walking and stuff because you can see how fast it adds up. I never exercised with my sleeve but I talked on the phone with my friend the first few times and then my husband got me these awesome headphones that don’t go in or over your ear so you can still hear traffic while listening to music. They are called “bone phones”. Now I just put on my music and take off walking. Makes the time go by so much faster. I wear them all day actually. You can listen to music on low and hold a conversation with someone even. I also started posting here and attending the in person support group meetings before my surgery this time so post surgery I have had lots of support. I go to check in with my NP more often than they generally require too because I have pretty severe anxiety and that comes with lots of questions and I just need the reassurance that everything is okay. Don’t forget to take photos and do measurements before you start your preop diet and again before surgery and set reminders in your calendar for once a month or so to keep doing them. And if you want to use that Baritastic app you can also keep track of your protein and water on there so familiarize yourself with it early. I kinda rambled but I tried to cover everything I could think of that may be helpful.

I’m really sure you will not only get used to it, you will like it. You just experienced such a speedy and drastic drop this time that it’s hard to wrap your mind around, but if you think about it you didn’t look at your 5x and think how big it was and you were wearing clothes that were even smaller than now when you were young. If I’m guessing correct it’s just that your weight gain happened over a much longer period of time so you had a chance to get used to each size before it changed again. Same way for me. I was a size 1 when I was 25 and now that I lost 40 pounds I’m still and xxl and it fits well so I guess I really needed 3 or 4x and i was just wearing things way too tight. Pretty big difference but it happened over like 15 years so it wasn’t nearly as shocking. I can’t wait to get to XL. I actually still have some of my XL and L clothes from when I lost with the sleeve they are just crammed into bins with no organization but when I go through it will be like shopping. Although my husband is pretty fit so sorting laundry will be a pain again when I get smaller. It’s easy now because his stuff looks like toddler sized compared to mine. 🤣

Well I think you look great at both sizes so wherever your body decides to settle you will be fine. I am so happy for you with the shopping. I am looking forward to that one myself. It’s like plus size design is left to the lesser talented designers. Maybe where you get your start or something. I know that if they are designers and have ever even seen an obese woman that they realize that the stuff doesn’t flatter our bodies. They just don’t seem to care.

Ooh I just assumed it was a laxative. I was told that the colace doesn’t make you go it just makes it soft and easier to pass when you do go. I hope you’re change to the one per dose is a good solution. Another option would be to alternate between one and two (take one the first day and two the next, one the third and two the fourth and so on). This is how my NP told me to cut the Colace because I was on two a day (morning and night) and when I cut back to one i got constipated and needed milk of magnesia.

@Arabesque was that test invasive. I’m curious to know if my NP thinks I should get a baseline too. It was at first just my triglycerides that were up a bit but during my last pre op labs the other cholesterol numbers and my sugar were elevated a bit too. She said it was my weight starting to catch up with me and it should go back down post surgery but you know how they tend to assume EVERYTHING is because of weight. I get that it does cause a lot of issues but my Mom has high cholesterol too and I’m getting older so it’s possible it also just genetic and my age catching up to me.

@Jaye Apples I hope you are on the road back to your normal self now. Haven’t seen anything from you. Just checking in.

Well I stored my leftover spring rolls in glass Pyrex containers and they looked fine until I tried to pick them up. They fell apart. Still tasty but apparently that’s not the way to store them. I think I’m going to try wax paper next time.

Is it the fat in the dairy that makes us go up? If so, maybe try skim or 2% dairy for a while and see if it goes back down?? I tried fat free cheese a long time ago and it was so gross I just assumed it all was awful but the reduced fat stuff isn’t bad at all. I get the block cheese and shred it myself and it’s really good and the skim ricotta was good. Not sure about cottage cheese because I don’t like it. Ooh and the baby bell light is delicious. One of my favorite post surgery snacks. I’m actually quite curious because mine was starting to go up and they always said when I lose weight it will go down but if it doesn’t I don’t know what I eat that’s so bad either I eat all lean cuts of meat and no real butter at all. I think my issue is honestly just dairy like you so keep us posted if you work it out please .

Yea. That’s awesome. If I even get close to my HS size I would be doing a happy dance for a year.

Your look about like mine did. They are tricky to work with but they taste good.

@SleeveToBypass2023 I don’t have any advice for you, but I hope they give you some answers with the ultrasound. @Arabesque what about a stool softener instead of a laxative. Won’t make you go, but will keep things soft for when you do?? Maybe ask your doctor about that. In the states we call it Colace.

Good for you!!

Sorry you have Covid but so glad to hear you had a good trip. I bet your cats missed you too. Wow 25,000 for multiple days good for you. I have been doing like 10-15k average just around the house and neighborhood and the one day I did almost 20 and boy oh boy my dogs were barking as my Dad used to say. I am so looking forward to being a little further out and being able to truly do whatever I want in terms of activity. Told my husband I’d like to do a trip when I reach my goal weight and if he been asking people for suggestions. I don’t want anywhere hot. Someone suggested Iceland. I’ve gotta research that. After my sleeve, alcohol was the exact same for me. I used to drink the flavored rums with my Coke Zero so I tried it post surgery with crystal light and margaritaville mixes and it tasted okay-ish but I was expecting this super fast buzz that everyone talked about and it did the opposite. Tried it a few more times over the years and even two or three in a night and I still felt nothing. I decided it’s a waste of calories and money for me and I haven’t drank since. I mean I never did it to get trashed but the point usually was a little bit of a buzz at a party or occasion. Your poor boyfriend who gained a few. Tell him he was taking it for the team, lol Seems like men usually can drop a small amount of weight pretty quick if they really want to 🤞. For future you may want to remind yourself that when you’re in a situation like that it is okay to waste a bit of food. I know it’s hard wired into some of us that we shouldn’t and I have been freezing things and having leftover nights at home to try and avoid it but it is okay if you don’t even have a refrigerator to put it in. It’s better than you or someone else having to overindulge. Now if he was secretly was looking forward to your leftovers that’s a different story. 😉 I hope you feel better really soon!!

Just make sure you are cleared for raw veggies and chew them super good regardless but they were really good.honestly it’s kinda hard to take small bites too without it falling apart. I just ended up using fork and knife to eat it.

When you guys log your food into the tracking apps when do you weigh or measure food. For instance meat weighs the most out of freezer and the least after it’s cooked. I assume I’m not supposed to input the frozen weight but do I use the thawed weight or the cooked weight. Also with like rice, do I enter the dry measurement or the cooked one which is twice as much. Further for like veggies would I measure in cups before or after it’s cooked?? Just trying to be the most accurate I can but these seem to make pretty big differences.

Omg. My friend who is on them literally JUST told me on her way home from her date she has 1.5 glasses of wine and her stomach is hurting. I wonder if it’s that med.

@Selina333 that works too. I’ve never even noticed that one. I guess it’s in both places. But yes. It worked. 👍

Instead of clicking, the + or the word quote, go to the top of the page and click reply to this topic then you will have a new box that didn’t quote anyone. Then you can mention someone’s name if you want. Yes to add most of your details you need to be on a laptop or desktop, but to see the details alongside each person’s post you need to be on a computer or a tablet. The phone is very limited in terms of what you can see and or do

Right. That’s where my biggest dilemma is. I don’t know when I enter it into Baritastic if I should use 3oz for the cooked chicken breast or 4oz for the raw chicken breast The calorie difference isn’t my concern. I would just enter the 4oz and be done but for protein that’s like 8-9g difference. (Really not sure why 1-2 oz is 9g difference but 3-4 ounces is 8g but that’s a whole other issue).

Really it’s the carbs and protein that I am mostly interested in but I get it. They aren’t necessarily accurate. I have to get at least 90g a day and that’s actually a great deal harder than I remember without shakes. They didn’t operate on my stomach so it’s not an issue of capacity. It’s that I already eat every three hours. I can’t imagine eating any more often than that.

Okay so I will remind you yet again that my surgery was a revision and they did not operate on my stomach so I’m probably quite a bit further along when it comes to food tolerances but when you get there you may want to try these spring rolls. The rice paper is kinda hard to work with so the first ones looked pretty bad but I got to the end they looked a little better. My guess is next time they will be good. I still don’t know what to do with the leftovers. I made 8 instead of 10 because I didn’t ration the chicken well enough but it just increased the protein which btw is kinda low in this as well. I am thinking I may add edimame next time. This time I just supplemented by having a shake for my snack. Ooh and the peanut sauce is super salty. Maybe because I used 100% ground peanuts and that doesn’t have any sugar but next time I may try reduced sodium soy sauce. Anyways, here is the recipe if you like spring rolls. The hardest part was trying to figure out the mandolin to julienne the veggies. https://www.bariatricfusion.com/blogs/recipes/bariatric-recipes-chicken-and-veggie-spring-rolls