NeonRaven8919

I would say bring some compression socks, drink lots of Water and luckily they do sell Protein Drinks in the airport so that's helpful, if you need something. I flew home from surgery 3 days after; it was only a 2-3 hour flight, but it wasn't terrible. Bring a refillable bottle with you because there are usually water fountains/water bottle fill up stations all over.
I would think you are in the soft foods phase of eating by now, so I would assume you could eat a few things at Thanksgiving like mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. You might even be able to tolerate turkey if you chew it well; just remember small portions.

Thanks everyone. I think me panic was more stress induced than anything else. So I've just gone through my house again, and threw out everything that I shouldn't eat again. I definitely think I have a food addiction so I think I will check out overeaters anonymous. Honestly, I never something like that existed! My weight is back on a downward trend (.5kg or 1lb) since Monday so I'm starting to see the light at the end again. I'm flying on Sunday so I've been feeling stressed about that which doesn't help.

Thank you for all your support. Sometimes I just need someone to press the "bullshit" button and snap me out of the funk.

Back to onwards and downwards.

Welcome PlantMom! There's already some really good advice here on your query. If you can spend some time reading this forum generally you will gain SO much knowledge in a short time. Well worth it.
I'm 3 years post sleeve. It has suited me very well - I am 5'9" and was 276lbs before I started my WLS journey, so not that far off your stats.
I made a positive choice to have the sleeve based on minimum changes to my anatomy. My surgeon laid out the pros of that Vs the bypass (he only did those two ops) and I decided. I would be really concerned about anyone trying to shoehorn me into what was easier for them.
I did have reflux when I was morbidly obese but I lucked out and it actually improved after I lost weight (as it always had before) but if you're a fellow sufferer that might be one to consider carefully.
In IRL I know people with sleeve, bypass, AND band, who have failed to lose, or lost and regained everything and more. WLS is a chance to re-think and redefine your relationship with food. I am saying this as someone still doing that and who will be negotiating that forever!
It's a lifelong journey for those of us who were born with the propensity to gain gain gain weight in the obesogenic society we now live in. Choose your tool carefully and after as much research as you can. Even then it doesn't work out for everyone but I think it maxes out your chance that you'll be one of the lucky ones.
I wish you all the best.

I would suggest you do some more research into which surgery to get. There are pros and cons to each. Many people choose the sleeve over gastric bypass because it has a lower risk of dumping syndrome, Vitamin deficiencies, and ulcers. Most doctors want to do what’s best for the patient, so they should be able to explain why they recommend the sleeve for you.
Do you know how many calories you are eating? Have you tried measuring and tracking your food? At your height and weight, you are eating approximately 2500 calories per day, and you will need to eat less to lose weight. Either surgery works as a tool to help you eat less, which is how you lose the weight.

I have the sleeve and my starting weight was 297 and I am 5'9. It has been super successful! I am already maintaining my weight and I haven't had any issues with GERD, or anything like that. I might be a lucky one- not sure. Just depends on what your needs and health issues are.; I chose the sleeve because I did not want my intestines re-routed, I did not want to prohibit the usage of NAISDs, the lack of absorption of nutrients and the dumping syndrome. I know there have been many many people very successful with the bypass and glad they did that, and those who had to revise the sleeve to the bypass!
I would just do your research, its took me a couple of months to figure out which one I wanted.

Hello!
First time poster here and I’m thinking of taking my life back and going to Mexico for mini bypass surgery BUT they keep pushing me for the sleeve instead. I don’t have a problem with over eating but apparently my body likes to hold on to everything I give it. I don’t think the sleeve would be a good option for me I am 5’8 almost 300lbs. I hear a lot of people getting the sleeve into a bypass afterwards and I don’t want to be in that boat. I know what I believe will work best for me but I’m looking for other peoples experience with the sleeve or mini bypass. Also any recommendations to a doctor in Mexico would be helpful as well because there are so many!
Thank you for reading I appreciate it!

I had to add the laughing emoji on your last comment because that bullshit button is awesome. If only we all had one on our foreheads that other people could press as needed... (although we would probably not appreciate it so much in the moment, I'm thinking).
Good luck on your trip and remember to give yourself grace as you navigate a totally new life experience of being a bariatric patient in a different environment, with family, during the holidays. It's not going to go perfectly, and that's fine.

Thanks everyone. I think me panic was more stress induced than anything else. So I've just gone through my house again, and threw out everything that I shouldn't eat again. I definitely think I have a food addiction so I think I will check out overeaters anonymous. Honestly, I never something like that existed! My weight is back on a downward trend (.5kg or 1lb) since Monday so I'm starting to see the light at the end again. I'm flying on Sunday so I've been feeling stressed about that which doesn't help.

Thank you for all your support. Sometimes I just need someone to press the "bullshit" button and snap me out of the funk.

Back to onwards and downwards.

I keep wanting to shop in the plus size or curve sizes online and i believe im just in a regular Large or Xl now. Crazy! I put on some previous 4x I. My closet crazy how it swallows me.

I don't sound like a walrus when I sleep now. LOL.

Has anyone ever had weight loss "stalling"? The scale has not moved for almost a month (it has not gone up either). I doing everything I can think of: exercising, eating correctly, measuring food portions, food journaling, more Water, daily Vitamins. EVERYTHING. Is the end of the road for me? (I am 10 months post-op. ) Anyone else go thru these times?

Stalls are inevitable. If this is your first one then you have been lucky. Just follow your plan and you will get your weight drop eventually. You can't force it.

Yes, I had one for a couple of months right as I got close to my goal weight and then poof one day the scales showed I had lost a couple of kg even though I had done nothing different. Body is just coping best it can as it looses so much of its reserves of fat etc.

Epigenetics are crazy fascinating! Like your ancestors went through a famine and now your body is programmed to receive/keep food nutrients differently or your ancestors ate a lot of a certain food so you can tolerate better than most. It's crazy! People have believed that what they did in their life did not affect their kids genetics, but we now know thats untrue.

An interesting article about “Fat Memory”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03614-9

Key points:

•Fat cells have a ‘memory’ of obesity hinting at why it’s hard to keep weight off.
•Long-lasting changes to the cells’ epigenome are linked to a decline in their function.
•For fat cells, the shift in gene activity seems to render them incapable of their normal function.
•Even weight-loss surgery did not budge that pattern.
•The research is ongoing as “It’s not yet a causal link, It’s correlation. … We’re working on this.”

Ugh - having read back the post above - sorry- it reads like there is one road to success and that any deviation from that path of righteousness could lead to 'failure' - that wasn't my point. Actually nothing could be further from the truth.
WLS ALLOWS us to have a day when we eat rubbish, just because we feel like it. The surgery is still doing its thing the next day. It's the brain, the brain, the brain that will mess things up for us and tell us that one day equals complete failure. And that therefore what is the point.
If we can access the support we need (and this does mean formal therapy for lots of us) I suspect that improves our chances of significant and sustained weight loss.
Hope this is more helpful.

Such good advice above. I so love this forum. 😍
OP I hope you can judge yourself less and forgive yourself a few lapses - you are human, as are the rest of us. You have done the best thing you could for your health and have gone to enormous trouble (and expense?) to do it! We ALL have slips and do things that we know aren't good for us. If we can look back and analyse why we did what we did then sometimes that can help us avoid the same mistakes in future.
I am 3 years post sleeve and I carry protein-based Snacks wherever I go - usually nuts or seeds in little packs that I can carry in my bag. If I am hungry (and I do get fierce hunger at quite short notice a couple of hours after eating) and I'm in danger of eating something I shouldn't, then I will eat those. I know they will help stop me eating the rubbish that my head wants but my body doesn't need. It works a bit for me so I hope will help you. I never leave home without them.
In addition I have stock phrases to 'explain' (not that I have to but - yunno) why I am not indulging in the delicious sugary fatty rubbish along with everyone else. I learned those phrases here. Oh I ate before I came! I'm just not hungry right now. I'm doing strict Keto so I'm avoiding sugar at the minute. And so on. IME people completely lose interest if you say 'a thing', LOL.
I wish you the best of luck. You've stumbled a little this week, that's OK, it's a marathon not a sprint. I hope you can use some of the resources suggested above. It's hard. It's hard every day, even after WLS. Take one day at a time and be kind to yourself. We are all here for you.

@NeonRaven8919,
First of all, let me assure you that we all have head hunger. None of us got to a weight where we required weight loss surgery without overeating, and we all have our own demons. You are among others like yourself. It sucks, but it's not unbeatable.
Here's what I have to say. I was in intensive outpatient eating disorders therapy for a few months, because I recognize that I am a compulsive overeater. That did nothing for the head hunger and Portion Control problems. For me, gastric bypass was the only solution because I need that brake on my overeating. And now, I have not had any sweets or high-sugar items since surgery because I know I could have dumping syndrome afterward, and nobody wants that. So that's another brake. For me, it's much easier to not eat something than to try to moderate.
The reason for all of that is because I have a food addiction. I know this about myself because I also happen to be a recovering alcoholic, and the cravings are exactly the same. I did not get sober by myself. White-knuckling does not work for addiction. The compulsions are simply too strong. I could not have gotten sober by myself. And there was no reason to, because there is free help out there. Did I want to quit entirely? NO. But I couldn't go on like I was. And now I'm 32 years sober, after starting in a position where I couldn't go 24 hours without drinking.
Why am I saying all this? Because your story sounds like mine. "Mindful eating" to control compulsion makes about as much sense as "mindful drinking" to control alcoholism (which is to say, none). So you may want to approach this problem like an addiction. I am not saying you are a food addict, only you can know whether that's true for you. What I'm saying is that you do not have to do this alone, and there's free help out there. @BigSue told you about some, and you will find TONS of support groups online in addition to the one she recommended. Take advantage of this free help, because white-knuckling is horrible and mostly doesn't work. Why? Because it's not about willpower. You did all the stuff to get your surgery, so we know you have willpower. If that worked against the kind of compulsion you're describing, it wouldn't be a problem. It doesn't. What does work is support groups. That's because they're full of people like us, who have to fight to change our relationship to food.
If you do happen to think you might be a food addict, check out Overeaters Anonymous. There are groups everywhere and it's free. You don't have to commit to anything and there's no test or anything to attend. You can just listen or ask questions or whatever. I absolutely guarantee that if you told your story about the food at work to an OA meeting, every single head would nod. Everyone will know exactly what you're talking about because they've been there.
Please don't give up on yourself, you're on a journey. People slip up. We get to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, and keep on going forward. You did a brilliant, extremely courageous thing in sharing your challenge here, and see how much support and help you got? You can do this. You CAN do this. We all need a little help from our friends.

@NeonRaven8919 Love that! That is definitely movement 🏆.

I cycle about 5 miles a day. It's just my commute, but I love it.

I didn't know Dr. Weiner had a support group! I've seen his videos on YouTube and I think he is awesome. He seems to understand and genuinely care about bariatric patients. I can imagine that his support group would be excellent for someone who doesn't have access to a local support group or therapist. This is really good info for the people on this forum.

You haven't failed. This is a really hard time of year. What helps me is going to therapy and trying to recognize if I am having actual hunger or if it's my brain just wanting food. You can do this.

It sounds like your resources are limited for getting support in your local area, so I wanted to recommend looking into the Pound of Cure nutrition program, which is run by Dr. Weiner in Tucson, AZ (he also has a couple books and YouTube channel with bariatric educational information). It's $49 a month and allows you to attend unlimited online support groups with their dietician and peer leaders, as well as a few sessions per month that are run by Dr. Weiner. I've subscribed for a while and go to at least a few of the groups per month as my schedule permits. Many times there will just be a few people in the group and you can really get a chance to ask your questions and get some good advice.
Just for example, there's a group for the first year post-op, for emotional eating and stress management, and even one for surviving the holidays and travel. They've been in this business for many years and I'm betting they could think of dozens of patients who felt exactly how you do right now but went on to be successful.

@NeonRaven8919 thats why were here! Vent away, we are here to support you through your highs and lows!

Yes. you're all right of course. I'm just blowing this out of proportion. As the saying goes. "it's a bad day. not a bad life." I think I'm stressed about my long trip to on Sunday and seeing people for the first time in 20 years.
And your definitely right. I've been eating more than I have in weeks and more than I shoud, but definitely less than this time last year.