Stalled

I was a lucky one who didn't have hair loss. I am on a daily biotin supplement anyway though. As the commenters before me said, when your body is under stress, your hair is likely to fall out. In fact, I study the stress hormones, cortisol in particular, and the way it relates to hair loss is this. When you go through a stressful event (like surgery or childbirth) your body releases more cortisol initially to help with the recovery process and release of other hormones. But with the increase in cortisol, it actually triggers itself to shut down and produce less cortisol after a short while. That means after a duration of high cortisol, the level will suddenly drop and you will have low cortisol levels. Cortisol is an insulin antagonist, meaning that cortisol levels are low when insulin is high and vice versa. As research has linked high insulin to hair loss, low cortisol will spike insulin, causing hair loss, dryness, and brittleness.

Sipping throughout the day. If you need to "guzzle" because you're really thirsty, that means you are already dehydrated. You might be able to consume more ounces at once by guzzling, but for me, it actually hurt and made me throw up. This went on for about two years. Still, four years after my surgery, I can only drink about 6 oz in a minute or two. Honestly, drink as much and as frequently as you want but make sure you're not hurting yourself. I actually had a glucose tolerance test recently and they had to cancel it because I couldn't drink all of the sugary liquid in the time they needed. I ended up throwing up.

I see people saying that you have to be on supplements for the rest of your life with the sleeve, this isn't necessarily the case. It depends on the person and that is why it is strongly encouraged you do an absorption panel each year. What I did was stay on my supplements for two years as my body adjusted, come to find out, I was actually overdosing on vitamins. That being said, your diet greatly influences the type and amount of nutritional vitamins you get. Again, another reason why absorption panel is necessary each year.

When you say that you can drink a lot of water, do you mean in one sitting or throughout the day? Being able to drink a whole bottle in a couple of minutes is a little abnormal, especially non-water drinks. I'm 4 years post-op and I still can't drink more than 6 oz at once. But if you're just drinking a lot of ounces throughout the day, that is actually very good. Regarding the amount of food, it really depends on what type of food. My surgeon told me this "you'll still be able to eat a whole bag of chips without noticing but you won't be able to put away a whole hamburger.". I was up and walking a couple of hours after my surgery, I had no mobility issues at all. That's a good sign. Congrats on hitting onederland!!!

There are some foods that you used to love that your stomach is going to hate now. I loved pizza and bread, for at least two years after my surgery, I couldn't eat either. The tomato in the sauce (even ketchup) was too acidic and made my stomach upset. Bread, literally all types of bread would sit too heavy in my stomach and made me feel like there was just a ball stuck in there. The pasta was another "ehh" food for me. I couldn't eat regular pasta like spaghetti without the same feeling in my stomach that I got from bread, sometimes I still feel this way. But tortellini and ravioli were fine (I think because of the cheese). I think trying the individual parts first is what is going to help the most. And try to find alternatives for your cravings. Instead of pizza, I had cheese sticks and pepperoni slices. I could heat the cheese up in a pan and put the pepperoni over it so that it would cook too. For bread, I didn't (and still don't) really miss it. Flatbreads such as naan and pita sit better in my stomach so if I do need bread for something, I choose that.

I use my Fitbit app. It allows me to track food and water. Then the food composition is broken down into proteins, carbs, sugars, etc.

I'm still not seeing where you are indicating.

I second the low blood sugar suggestion. My surgeon told us to not worry about sugar intake for the first couple of months after the surgery. I suspect that your protein shake is helping because of the sugar. To test this, next time you feel light-headed, have some apple or grape juice, see if it helps. If it does, it's because of low blood sugar.

@Arabesque that's a great point about stress. I actually study and research stress physiology for a living (if you call the stipend we get as graduate students a living), particularly stress hormones (glucocorticoids) and in particular CRH, ACTH, and Cortisol. All of these hormones have a huge influence on metabolism and are actually activated to start gluconeogenesis (formation of glucose from stored tissue) when your body goes into starvation mode. Because of the surgery and the limited diet, your body produces more cortisol which burns more fat. When that state is maintained the cortisol and glucocorticoid receptors actually get acclimated and can become desensitized, which is one reason why the weight loss decreases. I stalled for nearly 3 years now and have gained weight. But I'm glad your weight loss journey has been smoother and your stall was so short

I am starting a support group for people who have stalled or gained weight after Weight loss surgery. I haven't exactly hashed out the details but it will likely be a Facebook page. I'm hoping that it is an intimate group that will encourage each other and provides accountability. The goal is to support everyone to reach their weight loss goal (without having to amputate their own leg). If anyone is interested in joining, please let me know!

I prefer Trimino (I love the coconut-pineapple flavor), it is a clear liquid so it isn't as heavy as protein shakes and it doesn't have the chalky texture that protein2o has.

By the 8th month after my surgery, my weight loss drastically decreased. I would lose maybe 1-3 pounds each month after that, and sometimes I would gain weight. This isn't what is supposed to happen, yes the rate of weight loss is expected to lessen, but it isn't meant to stop altogether. I would encourage you to reevaluate what you are doing and see if you can do more or need to change something. You can also consult your surgeon to see what they suggest (new diet, more exercise, etc). Additionally, If you would like support on your journey, I am putting together a small intimate online support group between bariatricpal members. I hope the encouragement and accountability found in this group will help us reach our weight loss goals. Let me know if you're interested

That's a great point about varying exercises to not let your body get used to just one thing. I've also heard that circuit training is a huge help at preventing that plateau effect.

Hi Allea Marie! Let's connect We can follow each other and start messaging on here if that sounds good to you? I don't have experience with starting or maintaining a small support group but I think this is the first step!

Hi Loridee, I'm in a similar spot. I am 4 years post-op and was plateauing for over a year (not maintaining at goal weight, I still have 100 lbs to my goal), now I'm gaining weight. I think finding a support group would really help me get back on track too.

I do have some additional suggestions as someone who is 4 years post-surgery and has stalled weight loss and needs to start doing these again. 1) I didn't eat anything for 2 months after my surgery because my surgeon had me on a liquid diet to help the healing. If you can do that, you can do anything! 2) I still get cravings but they are mental. I drink water whenever I crave something and after several days, if I'm still craving it, I will have a small amount of what I am craving. But I NEVER binge. 3) portions matter. Stop eating when you're full. I don't care if you only have a couple of bites left on your plate. Get out of the "I can't waste food" mentality. Yes, it sucks to waste food and that will encourage you to have smaller portions in the first place. 4) take your vitamins every day. Cravings are, in part, due to our body needing specific nutrients. If you take your vitamins every day, you will have fewer cravings. 5) drink more liquids to feel full. 6) distractions like Tony said, but they don't always have to be physical, they can be mental as well. Read a book or do a puzzle, something that occupies your mind and hands. And most importantly, 7) block all ads on your social media that relate to food. Seeing food, even as ads, will tell your brain it's hungry when it's not. So yes, I suggest staying away from your mom's food as much as possible. If you're allowed to eat at this point (or for future gatherings) I suggest asking someone who knows your condition to get you a small plate of food. That way you don't see the spread yourself and over-indulge. The person who gets your plate should know your diet constraints and be portion conscious.

My mom had the gastric sleeve before I did and an unrelated problem came to light a little over 2 years after her surgery. She had a congenital defect of her colon where about a foot would become paralyzed and loop itself. The symptoms you're describing sound exactly the same. She had to have emergency exploratory surgery to finally fix it because for over 6 months all the doctors thought it was just a complication from the gastric sleeve procedure or because of the types of food she was eating. Neither of which was actually the case. She couldn't eat, she would throw everything up, her bowel was very irregular, and she had extreme abdominal pain. If that sounds familiar, I would suggest looking up "cecal volvulus". Before the surgery, she was eating larger portions which would mask the condition, but because she now eats much smaller portions, the defect in her colon became obvious.

Hi! Thank you for the comment, I agree the diet is probably the most important part. And perhaps my post made it seem like I just eat candy but I try to limit myself and don't gorge. Although I do acknowledge that I need to eat less sugar and have been making efforts to do so by eating more fruit in substitute for a sugar craving like you suggested. Unfortunately, I am unable to use artificial sweeteners such as Splenda because my gut doesn't react well (to put it lightly haha). Perhaps someone has had a similar experience with this and has some advice on what they did to limit the use of sugar without using artificials?

Thank you for the suggestion! I haven't tried weight or resistance training. Probably because I wouldn't know where to start and years ago when I had my surgery, I was told to focus on cardio. Do you have suggestions for some beginner programs or exercises or online resources that you've found helpful?