Search the Community

Have you had the revision? If so, what do you think so far? I'm in the same boat you were. Great weight loss, surgery was in 2010, but the GERD has gotten progressively worse. Non-cardiac chest pain, trouble swallowing sometimes, I'm on a prescription PPI and it was helping but I'm back to eating Tums again. When I finally decided to see a doctor I was eating 8 -10 Tums every day. I had no idea it was a bad thing until I read it somewhere!!! I suspect the appointment with the bariatric surgeon next month will give me an idea of what the solution is. I was self pay when I had sleeve surgery. I hope Anthem BCBS will approve and cover whatever he thinks I should do.

you're down to your original surgery weight because, like most of us, you probably "gained" weight while in the hospital because of all the IV fluids. It can take up to a week for them to work their way out of your system. I've heard of people "gaining" as much as 10 lbs while in the hospital! fluids go through our stomachs really fast since our pyloric valves were bypassed, so I'd be very surprised if you could stretch your stomach from fluids. Maybe you could if you REALLY slammed them, but 40-50 oz over the course of the day isn't "really slamming" them. I've never heard of anyone doing that from drinking fluids, and we were never warned we could stretch our stomachs from that. So...I'm not sure what to say...

I went back to work 10 days after surgery BUT I have a work from home job and it’s not physical. I wanted to comment and let you know your physician should recommend how long you’re off work. Be honest about your lifting push/pull requirements. You may need to be off longer than most of us if your job is physical. Also, you can ask for a medical accommodation at work to meet your nutrition needs. Your doctor just needs to write out what you need (maybe an extra break or keep water with you on the line?). Work with your HR group and let them know you need to keep hydrated and eat small meals at specific times. Ask HR what they need to request a ADA accommodation for yourself.

I have only lost 22 lbs, since surgery on 4/13/21 the past 10 days have been no weight loss. Can eat more things now, but wondering if I need to go back to 90 grams of protein per day- right now I’m at 30-60 and eat a small meal at night. Haven’t had sugar in a long time. Haven’t been drinking much water either. Any thoughts out there?

I was sleeved 3/10 and have been consistently eating 700-900 up to 1,000 calories a day and have been steady losing about 4-6 pounds a week and no stalls yet (knock on wood!!) I do walk at least 2-3 miles each day which I think really has helped me not have any stalls and I stay hydrated but I wouldn't be scared of having 800 calories a day!! That is still a VERY small amount of calories!

if you're still seeing your bariatric team, I'd start there. Or if not, is it possible to see them again? Otherwise, if you're not still tracking your food intake, start there. Track for a couple of weeks to figure out what your average calorie intake is now. Then try cutting back by 100 calories or so for another couple of weeks. If that doesn't do the trick, cut back by another 100 calories. Rinse and repeat. Eventually you'll find the level where you'll start losing weight. also, start doing some of things we did that first year after surgery (NOT all the way back to shakes and purees - I mean how we ate after the first couple of months - focusing mostly on protein and non-starchy vegetables. Then if you have room, maybe a small serving of fruit or whole-grain carb). if you're having trouble with hunger while cutting back, add in more vegetables - I try to eat vegetables with every meal when I'm trying to lose (I don't always with breakfast, but I DO blend a cup of fresh spinach or kale in with my morning protein shake to make up for it). I also always keep raw veggies (with a dip made from plain Greek yogurt and ranch dressing mix), sugar free popsicles, and sugar free Jello around, too. Healthy fats like avocado and peanut butter or a handful of nuts can also help with the hunger - but just have a small portion of those since they're pretty high in calories. good luck with this. I know it's tough - I'm battling a 10-lb COVID gain right now and I know it isn't easy, but people do it... At least you're catching it at 40 lbs while it's still do-able oh btw - I know a lot of people who've regained who've had success with Weight Watchers, Keto, and/or intermittent fasting - so those might be options for you, too...

Hi there! I’m also going through Kaiser and have a very similar story. I did my referral process last year, and finished my 10 weeks of options classes in January. Everything was closed because of covid though so I was just in limbo. I finally got my referral approvals in the mail today and was told that I should be contacted by the surgeons office any day now. I’m in riverside county, so I’ll be going with Dr. Suh. Looking forward to updating soon with how things are going!!

MY wife says, "No way!" So if I do it, I will have to sneak out for lunch on Wednesday. That could work, since I have my pre-op testing at 10 AM.

https://thatbariatricbitch.wordpress.com/2020/01/10/ricotta-bake/amp/

I'll be having my surgery this Friday 5/28. I wasn't planning on telling most people. Then my wife told me, "If you are losing 20 pounds or more per month and you don't tell people, they will guess that you have cancer." After hearing that, I decided to tell the people that I see often. Besides family, I've told 10 friends so far. All were people I sing with, and I was telling them why I won't be able to sing for a month or so. All were very supportive, at least to my face. They congratulated me for taking control of my life. For people I only see a couple times a year, I won't volunteer the information, but I will tell them if they ask.

Oh the brachioplasty is upper arm skin removal and the fleur de lis is abdominoplasty. Both are under plastic surgery. I got the duodenal switch 10 years ago and finally got the skin removal

So in a nutshell Before liquid diet 330 Day of surgery 319 09/19/11 CW 165 Plastics: brachio/fleur 5/21/2021 (weight after plastic, no idea lol) I am reaching my ten year mark in September! I just got rid of my excess tum and flying squirrels. I thought I'd stop here and see what's new and get some comfort and info. So DS is revised from the original, I have been doing fine with mine all this time but I wonder if I have to worry about anything now that I have the older procedure. How is everyone who had DS doing? Do I need to watch out for anything? Is there a plastic thread? I can't seem to find what I need. I just want to chat w people who got what I got and can tell me what they went through. Also, I'm here to give support as well for anyone who has any long term questions Hugs and healing!

Oh man, there is a new one? I got the DS 10 years ago and have been doing great tbh but it kinda scares me that they already revised it lol. What is sips like for you?

Hi sorry for the delay in responding. From my research pre op diets just like post definitely differ from surgeon to surgeon. Mine was a 10 day plan. Basically includes 2 protein shakes, 2 servings of non fat Greek yogurt 1/2 cup), 2 servings of berries that I typically add to my yogurt and 2 servings of cream soup (no chunks) 1 cup each. And 64oz of water. Add in 2 servings of glutamine as well the day before is just clear liquids which is the day I travel there it will take me three flights so will be a long day have you picked a doctor and gotten it scheduled?!

I started this journey at the end of January with a BMI of 49.6 and now my BMI is 44 (lost more than 35lbs so far). If I lose 19 more lbs I won't qualify for surgery anymore, and my surgery won't be for 2 more months at least. I'm losing about 9lbs a month, so it is entirely possible that I could have a BMI under 40 in 2 months! I don't have any other health conditions that would qualify me for surgery at a lower BMI, so I don't know what to do. I don't want to go back to the way I was eating before, and I know that I am always either gaining or losing weight. I'm eating lower carb and higher protein, so I'm just not really hungry. I never thought I'd have this problem!

I am waiting for my insurance to kick in, as here in australia is different then america. i need to have had private health insurance for 12 months before i can get the surgery and thats it. so i am currently waiting out that 12 months period i am at 10 months now and just in the process of getting it started. i dont have these pre-requirements like what i am reading on the fourms. hopefully, if all the tests are good in 2 months ill be having it. been a long time waiting for it but been making changes in eating. i say to myself little steps i have removed drinking soft drink from everyday multiple litres to iced tea with less then 50 calories per 2 litres. and eating more better food and not junk food

Just wanted to fill people in on what my experience has been like thus far since surgery. If you want to know something I forgot to mention, please don't hesitate to ask. HOSPITAL STAY: So I had my surgery May 19th around 10:30 am. I was in recovery and waking up by 11:45 am. All that went smoothly. The first day I was so dang tired that I drifted off and on while sitting in the chair in-between walking around and drinking. I felt bad for my husband who stay with me all day. He was totally content and happy to be there but I knew he too was tired so about 7pm I made him go home (visiting hours ended at 8 anyway). LOL When I first got to my room I was like, OMG I have HORRIBLE burning like heartburn and even complained about it. They gave me some sort of Gas chew and it didn't do jack. It wasn't until I got up and walking around that I figured out it was NOT heartburn but related to that gas inside and the walking helped that feeling subside. They gave me nothing but water or Gatorade Zero while there and I was totally fine and content with that. They mentioned medicine if I was nauseous but I never was. I felt totally fine and normal but for the one incision site that's to the right and up from my belly button. Doc said that's the typical complaint spot and where he pulls the extra stomach through so that's to be expected. But it hurt like hell when first standing from sitting and also wiping after peeing. Uggghhh. I slept in a chair sitting up that night when I could sleep which really only amounted to 3 hours total. I was given Tylenol for pain and an Oxycodone once on that first night. They sent me home with the Oxycodone too for pain and so far I have only taken it once at night to help with that pain while sleeping. The next morning they took more blood work and everything came back good and they allowed me to go home by early noon. Mostly because my pain was managed by meds and because I was easily able to get enough water down and I was not sick. Also, I did not pack much but I did pack my cell phone, charger, kindle, Biotene, Chapstick, brush, toothpaste and toothbrush, extra underwear and that was it. I did not use ANYTHING but for my brush and, right after surgery, put on my own undies and a pad since I got my period the day before surgery. I did not even use my cell phone (maybe once to post here) cause I was just so dang tired (plus trying to get my liquids in and walking) and hubby did all the updating to others for me. I mostly watched TV as it was on for background noise more than anything. MOVING AROUND: Every day is getting better but this dang incision spot is a ******!!! Can't wait for it to stop hurting cause I'm really tired of sleeping sitting up. I tried every way possible to lay down and it's just not possible! The dang area feels like it's burning and tearing apart when I do. Otherwise I'm following orders and walking around. I do not feel I still have a lot of gas issues but I most definitely feel like I am swollen about my stomach area for sure. APPEARANCE: I was actually surprised at how weird my stomach looked after surgery. Normally my stomach is smooth/one size all over and flat/round-ish (except for my little fat pouch right under my left breast that's been there forever). But upon looking at my stomach after surgery, I feel like some spots are like poofed out and others dented in, if that makes sense. Especially the bad incision spot. Strange. Not sure how else to explain it. Today is day 4 and it looks like I'm starting to bruise around most, if not all, incisions. Just slightly. FOOD/WATER: So my after diet consists of 2 weeks FULL LIQUIDS, followed by 1 week PUREE, and 2 weeks SOFT FOODS, then finally normal foods. Strange enough, I have had NO problem getting in 64 oz of liquid at all. I've had no chest pain, full feeling or sickness. A few times I had what feels like if you drink too much how it creates a sorta air bubble that hurts for a split second but then it passes. Otherwise, no issues. In fact, a few times after trying to drink/gulp like I normally would, I had to stop and remind myself that I no longer could do that. So weird cause I feel, aside from the incision pain, I would never know I even had surgery. So right now since all I've been able to ingest is liquids, I'm not sure if this is gonna be a blessing or an issue. On one hand I'm glad I can seem to "eat" and drink normal and also have had no aversions to taste. But on the other hand, I worry that will not help me in the long run to lose weight. This remains to be seen but I am scared I won't lose for this reason. So far I've had protein shakes, water, Gatorade Zero, the broths from creamed soups, sugar free popsicles and that's it. MEDICINE: I was told I wouldn't be able to swallow anything bigger than a tictac. That was a lie. I have been able to swallow all my pills, even the big ol Metformin, with no issue. POTTY: Had my first BM on my second day home. Had several a day since. No problems there either. WEIGHT: Not that I expected anything yet but, I have gotten on the scale and it's the same as it was the day of surgery. I think that's it. Can't think of anything else right now but if you have any questions please ask.

I had my VSG surgery on 5/12, with similar post op symptoms. It felt like a jabbing in my left side near where my drain tube had been. I also had terrible shoulder pain when I breathed in or swallowed, and came to understand it was a result of the gas used during surgery. It can get trapped in the tissue and disrupt the nerve that runs up into the shoulder area. It has all subsided as I've continued to heal. Drink very slowly, but get plenty of fluid. It took a week for the pains to subside and they are completely gone now that I'm 10-11 days out from surgery. If you are in a great deal of pain or it doesn't lessen in the next couple days, definitely call your doctor, but it does sound like your symptoms are common among VSG patients. It does get better!! Wishing you all the best.

Hello everyone, My name is Bariatric852. I am a 28 year old female who has just undergone laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery earlier this month. I am coming up to three weeks post op on a full liquid diet. I am craving solid food so much - I miss chewing my food. I am actually looking forward to puréed food stage starting on the 27th of May. The various weight loss surgeries were initially brought up by a specialist in a sleep clinic dealing with my sleep apnea. This was nearly three years ago. During these years leading up to my surgery, I have seen a multitude of doctors and specialists. Psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, surgeons, dietitian, physiotherapist. A lot of professionals to see. I have quite a few health problems such as Clinical Depression, PCOS, Sleep Apnea, high blood pressure and Borderline Diabetes... The doctors gave careful consideration to all of the above and gave me the green light to go ahead with the surgery this year. I was given the choice of gastric sleeve or gastric bypass. I chose the bypass.  My weight, at it’s heaviest was 155kg or 341.7lbs. In preparation for the surgery I had to lose 5-10% of my body weight. I managed to do this and my weight pre op was 125.5kg or 275.6lbs. Three weeks later and my current weight is 120.6kg or 265.9lbs. My family say I look a little thinner especial around my face. I know I have a long journey ahead of me. Life-long dietary supplements and antidepressants (21 pills a day). And a lot of hard work to be put in. But I look forward to seeing my weight drop and my body and mind becoming healthier.

After thinking a long time, I believe the issue is this: I came off a liquid diet, and then two weeks later I had fully reintroduced solids (which was around the time this happened). I also therefore was able to put some carbs in, so I came off ketosis. (The protein drinks I was on had ~no carbs.) Also, I've been eating probably a bit more salt than I should. From previous experience, keto makes me lose about 10 lbs of glycogen weight in the starting "whoosh." 10 lbs + solid food in various parts of digestion + some water retention from salt = 15-20 lbs depending on the water retention. So it's probable that I just haven't lost nearly as much actual fat as I think I have, which is extremely depressing, but at least there's an explanation. That said, I'm about 4 inches off both my waist and my hips, so clearly something happened. Though given my consistent weight for the past 2 weeks or so, I'm probably stalled right now. I did just start up a 3x/week strenuous weightlifting program, so hopefully that puts a dent in it. My doctor is horrible at getting back to me on any kind of schedule, so I had to attack this myself. The awful part is that 240 lbs is my normal weight pre-pandemic. All that work to return to the status quo.

Hello everyone, My name is Bariatric852. I am a 28 year old female who has just undergone laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery earlier this month. I am coming up to three weeks post op on a full liquid diet. I am craving solid food so much - I miss chewing my food. I am actually looking forward to puréed food stage starting on the 27th of May. The various weight loss surgeries were initially brought up by a specialist in a sleep clinic dealing with my sleep apnea. This was nearly three years ago. During these years leading up to my surgery, I have seen a multitude of doctors and specialists. Psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, surgeons, dietitian, physiotherapist. A lot of professionals to see. I have quite a few health problems such as Clinical Depression, PCOS, Sleep Apnea, high blood pressure and Borderline Diabetes... The doctors gave careful consideration to all of the above and gave me the green light to go ahead with the surgery this year. I was given the choice of gastric sleeve or gastric bypass. I chose the bypass. My weight, at it’s heaviest was 155kg or 341.7lbs. In preparation for the surgery I had to lose 5-10% of my body weight. I managed to do this and my weight pre op was 125.5kg or 275.6lbs. Three weeks later and my current weight is 120.6kg or 265.9lbs. My family say I look a little thinner especial around my face. I know I have a long journey ahead of me. Life-long dietary supplements and antidepressants (21 pills a day). And a lot of hard work to be put in. But I look forward to seeing my weight drop and my body and mind becoming healthier.

I struggled to maintain too @HealthyLifeStyle. I did look drawn in that year I kept loosing but since I stabilised about 6 months ago I look fine. Things do shift about. I’m a little shorter than you (5’3”) and my bmi sits just under 19 and I’m not bony. Sure I can feel my bones but my shoulders aren’t sunken & nor do I have deep hollows under my collarbones (signs of being underweight). I have a smaller frame so I can carry my lower weight better. If you have a larger frame, you may look slimmer than your weight indicates. Give it time. It can be hard to come to terms with how we look being slim. It’s body dysmorphia. I think a lot of us would put our hand up & say yep I’m still sometimes surprised by how I look in the mirror or they can be surprised when someone describes us as slim or small (who? me?). (I don’t really like ‘skinny’. It can have negative connotations or raise negative responses.) Sorry, @FutureSylph your post has been hijacked a little - it often happens. Best advice: 1 - fellow your plan. There are lots of different ones but stick to what you were given. You can negotiate with your surgeon & dietician as you progress. 2 - go at your pace. It’s not a race. You may lose quickly, you may lose slowly. You may struggle at times on the way but you’ll get there. 3 - listen to your body. It will tell you pretty darn quickly if it’s happy or not. It can be pretty fussy at first & may not tolerate one day what it did the day before. Give it a break & then try again in a week or so. 4 - what worked for me or someone else may not work for you. Still give any suggestions a go or research them to see if they might. 5 - take time to decide what foods you do want to reintroduce into your life & what you don’t when you reach maintenance. Consider portion size, frequency of eating or if there’s an healthier alternative for foods you do want to reintroduce. Good luck.

It took me 20 months to lose all that weight (I started out MUCH heavier than you did), so I was well into the second year before I hit my low. I don't remember exactly when i started looking better because it's been a few years, but it would have been within a few months after I hit bottom. I just checked my weight log and by a little over 2.5 years out, my weight started to head up, so things had probably shifted around and settled and I looked better at my lowest weight sometime during the period of 4-10 after I hit bottom and before I experienced rebound weight (I was totally convinced I would NEVER experience rebound like so many people do, but...I did). Even though I loved seeing the 130s on my scale, I looked way better once my weight started to go up. But now I'm 20 lbs heavier (the last 10 thanks to COVID). I still look fine, but I'd really like to lose 5-10 lbs.

Hello I think this is really weird/funny. I went shopping the other day, and decided to try on some sandals. Before my surgery I wore 10 WW shoes. Now I am in a 9 regular shoe. I understand the width part as you lose weight. But how can your feet get shorter? LOL

to be honest, there are a lot more people who never make it to goal than there are who get too skinny. But you're definitely not the first (I got too thin at first as well, but it sounds like yours is worse). not sure when you had surgery, but after you hit your low weight, things sort of shift around and resettle, and you don't look as drawn. Then in year 3, most of us have a 10-20 lb rebound (some more, of course, but 10-20 lbs is extremely common). So you may end up looking fine... (actually, I just checked your stats. I'm 5'6" and got down to where you are now (low to mid-130s) -- my bmi was 22 - so number-wise I was slightly worse. I did look really drawn and unhealthy at that weight...but I was OK with it since I knew almost everyone has a rebound - and I did...)