Search the Community

My father never had surgery but suffered from GERD as long as I can remember. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last year. That’s what motivated me to get this done. Before surgery I was also on pantoprazole twice daily and still taking tums and GasX daily too. I also wear a CPAP and had unbearable aerophagia every morning. That’s ultimately why I chose to go through with it. My sleeve didn’t help me much with weight loss but I lost 70 lbs earlier this year between the nausea and vomiting! As I type this I just woke up with similar but milder symptoms and I’m 10 days post op. I really hope it’s just due to the healing process! Everyone I’ve read about says all symptoms of GERD disappear after revision

I’m scheduled for December 5. I’m skipping thanksgiving with my family bc we can’t seem to make it out if a family gathering without a COVID outbreak and I do not want my surgery delayed. I’m going through the emotions as well. It’s the first time I feel nerves about the procedure and long term after effects. Not nervous about the liquid diet so much. I just had my 4 hour nutritional class Thursday and was surprised we aren’t on liquids only longer. I’ve been able to do a juice cleanse for 21 days in the past so I know I can get through the liquid only portion of this. Right now I’m particularly fixated on concerns around hair loss which I am just learning is a potential side effect.

Yesterday I had my first experience of really going off the rails post surgery. We’re traveling and stopped within 2 miles of my favorite restaurant which we don’t have within hours of my house. So I ate my favorite chicken fingers and a couple hours later half a piece of cheesecake. Not gonna lie they were delicious but I definitely overate and probably hit 2000 calories yesterday. Otherwise I have been pretty much on track, even while traveling. How much do you think this will set me back weight loss-wise?

The constipation doesn’t really last that long - usually just while you’re losing & it lessens as you progress & as you’re eating a broader range of foods & your portions get larger. Sure, I still have the odd day I have no movement but I used to have that before surgery. It could be I didn’t drink much water the day before, my diet was a little off or just my body. Nothing to do with the surgery. Many believe obesity & certain foods can trigger IBS which is likely why obese people with IBS do experience a reduction of symptoms after bariatric surgery: because of the change of diet & their weight loss. Certainly worth eliminating the worst food offenders from your diet to see if that reduces your attacks if you’re not already doing so. And a further, more detailed conversation with your doctors may better answer your questions & concerns..

Unfortunately what you experienced is exactly why few surgeons do lap band surgery anymore. A bad result does not necessarily mean medical malpractice. You had bad luck, just as I did. I had RNY>RNY revision last December 21. Ten days later I was airlifted back to the hospital with peritonitis and sepsis. My small intestine had split post surgery and everything I consumed was entering my abdominal cavity. I spent 7 weeks in hospital, had 3 endoscopy procedures, two open surgeries, and then spent 3 more weeks in a rehab facility. This was just about as bad as it could get: I was near death. However, I recovered without loss of any organs, limbs, or mental capacity. I never blamed my surgeon or the hospital.

I dropped 50+ lbs pre-surgery by cutting out all foods containing sugar, flour, white potatoes, rice, and processed foods. These are my trigger foods. I consider myself to be a sugar/food addict. I can never go back to eating these things with abandon. I started using the Baritastic app. I occasionally used liquid protein shakes during that period. My calorie count dropped to around 1000 per day. I attended water exercise classes three days a week, including swimming 1/4 mile each time. I also increased my mileage on my walking tricycle to at least a mile a day. I've lost another 50+ lbs since my RNY>RNY revision surgery. I still strive to avoid my trigger foods. It's harder to resist now and weight loss is slow going, but I'm still dropping a few pounds a month with lengthy stalls.

VSG will not resolve IBS. VSG is solely a bariatric surgery and is only indicated for weight loss. That being said, some people do find their symptoms improve as a result of the drastic diet changes. Talk to your GI and your WLS team to get their input.

i mean you can see all the people here that post that weight loss surgery does work if you stick to the plan. you can drink later on once you healed up... Most say weight a year but of course you dont have to but it will help your weight loss if you do. also alcohol will be a bit different than before where just a drink or two can get you pretty buzzed. remember beer has lots of carbs in it. carbs are something we want to keep to a minimum. (Low carb beers maybe)

Weight loss update? My surgery on 10/17 and I have had such a hate/hate relationship with scales my whole life that I decided I was not buying a scale because I did not want it to be about the "number". However, now I fear I am behind schedule. I was looking at stats on profiles of others around my size, but they are not easy to really determine where everyone is and was. For example, my weight when I "started this journey" was 270. However, my weight on surgery day was 265. I was weighed 7 days post-op and had lost 7 pounds. I was weighed today as part of life insurance enrollment, and I am 244. That is ONLY 21 pounds in nearly FIVE weeks!! WTH! How are all my other October surgery teammates coming along??

I am absolutely the same. I was too scared to even try anything during the liquid phase but when I got to pureed phase I tried chicken noodle soup at an outing with no way to puree. I was able to keep it down. I have had no trouble with eating anything. I am only 5 weeks out and still not eating anything too heavy, too hard, or sugary at all but I was absolutely convinced the doc forgot to actually remove the stomach. Had it not been for the decrease in appetite and the filling full quickly I would have argued him on it, lol. I am able to drink water like normal. If I drink protein shakes too quickly, like I often do when at work, I find I get just slightly nauseous, but it passes in like 15 minutes. I have hit a MAJOR weight loss stall though. I fear this may be part of the reason, I have done too much too fast. That being said, all the research I have done says you cannot stretch your stomach this soon after surgery and a weight loss stall early on is not uncommon. For now, I plan to keep doing what feels right and see how it goes! Thank you for your honest post, I was scared to admit I was moving faster along than prescribed!!

I completely agree with you. I'm 57 and had my sleeve 11 weeks ago. How I wish I had done this when I was in my 30s or 40s as I also feel like I missed out on so much due to my weight! Already feel its the best thing I've done and down 17kg (38 lb). I say go for it! It's a great tool to help with our weight loss journey

Oh the strange things that people have to me and about me during my weight loss journey. My own family (estranged family now) have accused me of being on drugs, it has been said I must have cancer, my favorite one is she must have developed "an eating disorder"! I mean nobody said I had an eating disorder when I weighed 247 pounds but now that I am 125 I have one? lol People say that they have no idea how much their words affect others but I think they do know and that is why they weaponize them. I had to learn how to let their words roll off my back like a duck lets water roll off their back. I know what I was working towards and why, that is all that matters

Hey everybody! I'm 6 weeks and one day post-op... The first month I lost 30 lb but since then I've only lost seven and I'm giving myself a really hard time. I know that they say there's a plateau. I just didn't think it was going to be so close to after surgery. Did anybody get any recommendations on how to get past the plateau? I can't help but try to blame myself for doing something wrong even though I'm following every single rule except exercise because my back still won't allow me to. I need to lose a little more weight before that's possible. I'm so proud of each and every one of us for taking this journey. My original weight at my heaviest was 356 lb, after I got on the diet for pre-op it went down to 319 lb and I'm now 286 lb... I have such a hard time realizing that's quite a bit of weight loss when I feel so far away from my goal of 180... Any encouragement would help....

Great job with that weight loss!!!! It sucks that it started so rough for you but you have over come it. Keep up the good work!!!!

Yes, I do agree. I don't think people realize how things come out of their mouth sometimes. Sometimes, it is just plain mean and they still don't think it is.. those people are dicks. LOL For example I was told "if you loose too much more weight you will be unattractive to me" lol.. ok 1st: it is fine that you like big girls, 2: I don't care if I am "attractive to YOU".. I care I am happy with myself and attractive to my partner. And, honestly.. if my weight loss became UN attractive to my partner.. that wouldn't stop me either it just may stop my relationship.. This is for me.. for just about the first time ever.. it is FOR ME..

Recently I ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in a while, since very early in my weight loss - she looked me up and down and said "You need to be done" That was it. Nothing else. I've lost 110lbs, but I'm in no way unhealthy or thin to a point of concern. I'm still solidly 20lbs over a "healthy" BMI. It sent me into a bit of a spiral for a few days and really ramped up some dysmorphic thinking, but my husband (GOD BLESS THAT MAN) was able to talk me down. I think some of it is just thoughtlessness; people don't realize what they are saying and how it sounds. Some of it is internalized insecurity; they have their own junk and it spills out on everyone around them. I think very rarely is it intentionally mean, or at least that's what I choose to believe (most of the time!).

This is what my plan says. I take this to mean pretty much forever, or for a long time, anyways. And that's fine, most carbs are trigger foods for me, so I should stay away from them. THESE FOODS ARE ALL HARD TO TOLERATE AND DO NOT SUPPORT YOUR LONG TERM WEIGHT LOSS GOALS Bread, pastries, muffins, bagels, rice, flour tortilla, pasta, and flour-based products. They foods form a dough ball, which can swell up and plug the stomach outlet resulting in pain or vomiting. Greasy and deep-fried foods are often hard to digest and poorly tolerated. Sugar and sweets can cause dumping syndrome and inadequate weight loss. Carbonation (soda, flavored waters, and alcohol), sugar sweetened drinks, and juice.

I'm 4 weeks and 2 days post op. I'm down 18 pounds since surgery. My clothes are also looser and I really love it, too. My weight loss was happening really fast, in the first couple of weeks and it was kind of scaring me. Thankfully, it has slowed down. I start soft foods, today. So far, I haven't had any problems with getting in enough protein and water. My hunger is really starting to return. So I've had to start eating food more often. I was eating 3 times a day, now I'm up to 5. I've cut down my use of protein shakes to 1 or 2 per day. I was drinking 3, before. I'm typically getting anywhere from 600-900 calories per day. I was cleared for exercise, so I've been doing slow walks on my elliptical - 15 minutes a day and keeping it under 7 miles per hour. I'm trying real hard not to overdo it. My incisions are healing. I have one that was bigger than the others and it's being a little slow to close up. I still have some bruising. I'm still fairly sore. But, if I sneeze now, I don't feel like I'm going to die. So that's progress.

Seriously, what is with people of this world. Don't get me wrong, the noticed weight loss and compliments are nice.. to a point. Over the weekend I was at my VFW for a Thanksgiving food drive dropping off some donations and while standing at the corner of the bar talking to a bar tender a guy(who knows me from there and sees me all the time) came up behind me and said "excuse me BIG GUY!" I turned around and said I am a woman. Seriously WTF? My hair was down and it's LONG, I was wearing leggings and a hoodie... I know it was an accident but why "BIG" guy? He apologized and I just went about my day. Then I had someone close to me THE VERY NEXT DAY grab my hip and tell me I need to stop loosing weight, I am getting bony. Again, W.T.F? First off I weigh 260 lbs... not even close to where I want to be... and someone already said I am bony? RUDE! I am 6ft tall so even at 260 lbs I do realize I look bony in areas but I am seriously still chubby and FAR from "bony"! Then just yesterday at work, I was helping this guy understand a engineered drawing and in the middle of me explaining he says "Man Kim you are really slimming down"... Now, had he just stopped there it would have been fine but he goes on to say "I don't know how much you used to weigh but you have lost a lot so it must have been a lot".. ONCE AGAIN!... W...T...F?!?!? I know he meant it as a compliment, but seriously...what kind of compliment ends with you must have weighed a lot? I just said yea I was pretty fat and went back to what I was doing. lol Why can't people just leave it alone, stop commenting on people's bodies. Or, just simply say you are looking good. Or something basic and simple like such? Again, the compliments are nice and build confidence but I think people need to understand what classifies as a compliment and when they actually crossed the line to rude. Rant over...thanks. 😁

Hello everyone. I’m new here and wanted to introduce myself. I found this forum a few days ago and have enjoyed reading the posts. I am a 40 year old female and had my surgery on 10/24. My starting weight when I first started the pre op liquid diet was 215. I was 204 the day of my surgery. I’m just a bit over the 3 week mark and I’m down to 191. The past week or so the scale hasn’t moved much. I was a bit confused at first since I know I’m not consuming more than 5-600 calories a day but then I started reading about the stalls in the week 2-3 range and realized it’s normal as my body needs time to heal and get my water level back up. So I’m trying not to stress over the scale. It’s crazy because in my diet days I would have been thrilled at a 13 pound loss in 3 weeks, but after surgery I’m like “is that all?!” But I’m trusting the process. I also know that I’m starting out at a lower BMI then most people that have this surgery so I’m probably not going to have these massive losses. The surgery itself was pretty smooth. I work nights so I got off work at 5am, took a quick shower and went to the hospital at 6:30am to start the procedure. Needless to say after surgery I slept for most the day lol. I was a bit sore and nauseous when I woke up but they were good about giving me meds. By the second day I didn’t have as much pain but the nausea was still there. The most annoying part was I had to pee every hour thanks to all the fluids they pumped through my IV. So I constantly had to call for a nurse to unhook me and help me up and into the bathroom. The only other hard part was my vision. No one warned me that a side effect of the nausea patch they put behind my ear effects your vision. It kind of freaked me out because I couldn’t read my cell phone screen at all. It was just a big blur. I finally asked the nurse and she explained the issue. Before I left the hospital I asked them to remove the patch. It took another 2 days before my vision was fully restored. So that was a challenge. Not only could I not read my phone but I couldn’t read the prescription bottles either. Had to rely on my family to tell me which pills were which and when to take them. Otherwise the experience wasn’t terrible. Otherwise I’m feeling pretty good. The weird gurgling every time I eat is a bit annoying. It doesn’t hurt exactly but it’s still not comfortable. At first I thought maybe I was eating too fast, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’ve learned through this forum that it’s pretty common. What else….. oh vitamins! The chewable ones were gross so I switched to the chewy ones. They’re not terrible but not great either. I’m looking forward to when I can just switch to capsule vitamins. I have officially dropped a pants size so that’s nice. I have a range of clothes from size 16-10 from all my yo yo dieting phases so I at least have options while I’m losing. Today I’m in the 14s and packed up my 16s to donate. If I get smaller than the 10s I’ll be planning a shopping trip. I really enjoy this forum. The only people that know I had the surgery was my wife and my best friend. I didn’t tell the rest of my family or coworkers. So having a safe place to talk about my experience and compare stories has been nice.

That sounds like a great breakfast and good amount of protein! I love avocado and hopefully chicken and eggs will get better for me sooner rather then later. I think my stall has officially broken after more than 3 weeks! Knock on every piece of wood and so hope I'm not jinxing myself lol. I have lost weight 3 days in a row so I'm counting that as breaking my stall. I'm sad that I didn't get a large weight loss like I've seen people post about after a stall, but I'm soooo happy just to be moving in the right direction again! Everything is so much easier without that stall hanging over me. I want to exercise again and I have energy just because I'm not as depressed. I never quit my walking but I just didn't want to do it or progress my routine. Now I'm back on track and excited again. Hopefully its a long time until my next stall lol.

In hind sight I would say the longer you leave it to try to eat carbs and other foods and drinks (carbonated) that can cause weight issues the better. I was eager to " test" foods out early on and discovering I could eat and drink them easily with no issues slowed/stopped my weight loss earlier than it should have. I feel if I had have not tried them and went longer without them I would have had a better result.

Official one year doctor appointment over. 271 was the official weigh in at doctor's office... this translates to an overall loss of 132. Yeah right... Lol Doc was not very happy with my progress in the last couple months. My weightloss "really stagnated" since my 8 month appointment. Yeah, it was less, but to be fair, the 8 month appointment was really a 9 month appointment by the time we were able to meet. It was a zoom appointment which means the weight I provided them was from my home scale and not with clothes on in their office, and finally, I've been hitting the gym much harder in the last few months... so I know there is new muscle to be accounted for. ... BUT, no excuses right. His goal for me is another 30 pounds off in the next 6 months. He doesn't seem to buy into the idea that I have been recomping at the gym at all. His basic message to me was start tracking everything I eat don't go over 1500 calories per day and get serious for the next 6 months. He does want me to use a scale that can track body fat / lean muscle measurements, so I may need to buy one. So, the report from my doctor was sort of "good job the first 9 months... but what's going on now!?" I'm back to tracking my intake and I need to report back to my dietitian in the next week.

Today is a day for everyone to celebrate themselves! Post one accomplishment, achievement, baby step, thing that made you happy! Toot your own horn and celebrate something no matter how big or small today! It can be weight loss, personal achievement, work achievement, walking in a store, going outside your comfort zone or whatever you want …. Here’s mine: I am finally down 10 lbs from surgery after my adventures and dropping fas (Saturday I was half a pound above surgery weight due to ivs etc), and one pound from loosing 100 this calendar year! I celebrate my body is healing, infection clearing snd all the fluid is leaving so I can smile at the fat loss finally showing up on the scale. your turn!

I was surprised when he brought up the DS. My previous surgeon hadn't. I was having enough trouble deciding between the GS and RNY, and now this. I'm still leaning strongly towards the RNY. And congrats on your weight loss as well! It's good to see people successfully on the other side of this experience.