Janine Peate

Hi My name is Janine and I had Gastric Bypass surgery late last year, in Oct. I have struggled with it in that I can eat a small meal after my surgery and I am not sure that it is all working properly. I don't understand how I can eat far more than I expected. I am sitting on a stalemate at the moment. I haven't lost any significant weight and feeling disillusioned at the moment. I would like to know what I am doing wrong if anything and if not, then how do I navigate these issues to place myself in the position that I can lose weight again. thank you for reading, Janine

I had a gastric bypass. It's been this way ever since surgery. I do have achalasia and I have a pouch above the sphincter that seperates the stomach from the oesophegus. I am wondering if food collects in there and then is metered out slowly so that I don't get the fullness and satiety that should be expected from a bypass. When i tried to talk to my doctor about this, he said I should be able to eat a full meal and that my weight loss occurs by malabsorption... just frustrated and confused.

Ok - I have a different issue. Ever since I have had my gastric bypass surgery I have been able to eat. I can't eat what I used to without it, but I think I certainly eat much more than they recommend. I have never vomited and I have never dumped. I am not losing weight and even though I have told my doctor all this, he doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong. To lose weight I have to stick to protien and salad. I have been told I can have three serves of fruit a day. For Breakfast I have a cup of muesli or a multgrain Cereal. lunch is usually a ham or chicken roll with a salad filling as well and often I will have a piece of my allowable fruit. I have yoghurt if I have a sachet of porridge, with a banana (from my allowable serves) I have tried to keep off the milk, because often that is my downfall, and keep away from all the sweets and biscuits. What do other people think about this? Has anyone got a similar story? If so, can you share it? Janine

My name is Janine and I have found this site via a blog about lap band surgery. I was banded on Oct 5, 2007 and to date have lost 31.5 kilograms. I will have lost a bit more now because it has been couple of weeks since I last weighed myself. I have done really well since having my band and would recommend it to anyone who is needing this sort of help to aid weight loss. Although the band assists me to lose my weight, the process of losing weight remains hard and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to think carefully about making this decision. There have been many times when I have struggled and not traveled so well along this lap band journey. However, what I can say, is that from an overall perspective, it has been the best decision I have made and I have been really pleased with the results. For me, it was the right path for me to take. I have yet to lose another 25 kilograms to get to my ideal weight. The goal I have set is on the upper side of normal weight for me. It was also where I sat before I had my children. I didn't want to be unrealistic and set a weight that I could never achieve or that was not me. One of my biggest problems is that I carry my weight really well, so many people do not recognise that I still have a significant way to go. I log onto the Australian chat boards through yahoo, and I find reading the stories of other people so inspiring. It is uplifting and encouraging to read that others have been through what I am going through now and that they can offer valuable insights and suggestions to manage difficult situations. This site will be the same. I believe that we can't get too much support especially when the journey becomes difficult and the brain takes a completely different direction to what your tummy demands of you. Any way, just wanted to say hello... and tell you a bit about myself. :embaressed_smile:

you can mix berries through the shake to give it a better flavour. Berries like strawberries, raspberries and things like that. You can also add a teaspoonful of coffee if you want a coffee flavored shake. Here in Australia most doctors recommend a specific brand and mine was Optifast. Not sure if you have that brand in the US, but if you talk to your pharmacist, he will be able to guide you. Please excuse the grammar - I am trying to think of all the American words that you call the things. As an example, we call diapers - nappies. When I visited Disneyland in LA, I needed to buy some disposable ones because I had used the last one in the bag. I had said on the plane all the way to the US - diapers, diapers, diapers... and when I actually had to ask for them - do you think I could remember what you guys called them - NO WAY. It took half an hour solid of interpretation to explain what I was asking for. Pity I didn't have my daughter with me at the time, because I could have just lifted up her dress and pointed. I had left her with my mum. So with pharmacist, we call them chemists... but I am not sure what you call the people who work in your drug stores... I will leave the interpretation to you :-)