Search the Community

Fun fact: whenever my boss is on vacation I tend to drop weight, years and years after surgery. High stress job, little time to eat. Part of my meals of the day is usually fruit. The containers I use for a mixed fruit salad holds about 450 g. Sandwiches, wraps, quick bean pasta dishes... everything not-too-unhealthy, tasty and quick - and carbs all the way. It's the calories that makes or breaks it, folks. The calories. Not some magic macronutrient balance.

They wouldn't offer both if they weren't a good solution for different people. Gastric sleeve, in general, results in about 10% less weight loss than bypass, but also has fewer long-term limitations...but I am a sleeve patient who lost every bit of their excess weight and more. In *general*, you hear of less sleeve patients who cannot tolerate certain foods a couple years after the procedure, and bypass patients sometimes end up being unable to tolerate certain things ever again. That being said, I am a sleeve patient, I am 21 months PO and I still don't tolerate apples, potatoes, rice, pasta, certain types of bread, or carbonation very well so I am still actively avoiding them (which, in a way, has helped me stay on track, so I suppose it's a bit of a mixed bag). I would listen to your doctor's recommendation and make sure you understand their reasoning for making said recommendation. There is a reason both surgeries are as common as they are.

Lots of people have an easy choice here because they already had GERD. People with GERD have a Bypass because it 99% stops it. I had the sleeve and ended up with GERD. Its a small percentage but its unpleasant to be sure. Many people with GERD have a Bypass later. There is little difference between the weight loss for either surgery. In the UK it cost £2000 more for a Bypass than the sleeve, I went with my surgeons recommendation, he said the sleeve would be fine so that's what I had. Had he said otherwise I would have stumped up the extra cost, I wish I had the Bypass now.

I have Anthem BCBS and was diagnosed pre-diabetic. My doctor put me on Semaglutide a few years ago but I didn't continue with it after I read it was known to cause tumors and cancer in clinical trials. Plus the only way to maintain the lost weight is to continue injections indefinitely 😕

I have them. All of them. I can afford to have them as well. I understand the differences between calcium citrate and calcium carbonate. I use sublingual b12, etc. My daughter is a PharmD. Both of my sons are MDs. I often have vit D levels in the single digits, which is why I've been given 50,000 units of vit D by my endocrinologist. I'm lax on my anti-depressants as well. I'm not sure why it's this way. I know I should be taking them. I just don't feel motivated. I doesn't help to come here and not be honest. I know I should make the effort. Why did I go through all this just to endanger my health at this point? My current weight is about 189. I have yet to reach my goal of 150, which was probably unrealistic. All that skin and the kangaroo pouch from four pregnancies are here to stay. Don't get me wrong. I consider pregnancy-related scars and bulges to be the price a woman pays for amazing children. I hope that doesn't sound too corny. I fear I am rambling. I have not logged in here for a while. I even had to refresh my memory as to when I got my surgery.

Question! I have Anthem blue cross blue shield. Did anyone get pre approved for weight loss injections for pre diabetes? I’m not quite diabetic but wanted to see if anyone got approved pre diabetic. Have about 20 lbs to lose 3 years after gastric bypass. Slow regain.

CarolineLittle Yep constipation was awful finally semi normal bm yesterday. What a relief! I can drink more water just afraid of stretching my pouch. I am at a stall too, gained 2 lbs. not walking as much as I should. Only 1 mile. See doctor tomorrow hope the drains come out. Anyone else have drains? I had some complications and think that may be why I have them. Also hope doctor moves me to soft food stage

I wish I didn't enjoy eating - it'd be a lot easier to control my weight! I was really hoping I'd be one of those minority of patients whose hunger never comes back, but unfortunately, it did. BUT....you should be taking your vitamins. Not taking them is not an option for RNY patients. Deficiencies are no joke. Some defiencies you can come back from, others you can't. Why aren't you taking your vitamins?

At my 2-week post op group class with the surgeon’s nutritionist at Miami UHealth, we were told to increase our water/liquid intake significantly. 3liters for those 200-250, and 3.5liters for 250-300. 1 liters is equivalent just over 33 ounces. I’m not there yet, but I can generally take in 80 ounces with no problem. On another note I lost 9 pounds the first week and have been in a full stall for two weeks. I really hope it ends soon, but I feel good and am being patient to see weight loss after a period of healing.

Me too. I was losing roughly 1 lb per day (25 lbs since surgery). Now I've been stuck around 251 for almost a week. When does the weight loss start to kick back in again? I've started a boxing workout and other cardio to get me off that weight.

It does improve especially as you start eating more & a wider range of food types so closer to your final stabilised weight. At the moment you are eating so little that not going every day is to be expected. Just don’t let it persist otherwise that’s when you’ll start to experience discomfort or at worst pain or you may need to use more shall we say ‘dramatic’ treatments/interventions. If I hadn’t gone by day 3 I’d take a stool softener so there’d be movement on day 4. That worked for me. Try adding a non swelling soluble fibre to your diet every day to help. Yes, you may continue to experience it as @catwoman7 said forever. I’m four years out & every week or two I can have a day or two of little or no action. I only take something if it persists into a third day but that rarely occurs now.

Fingers crossed it will help @GMaJen. Back pain is awful. I have oozing discs in my lower back that comes & goes but standing or sitting for any time sets it off simply from the weight of my body compressing the discs. I had hoped the weight loss would help but only did minimally. ☹️ I have found gentle stretching does help a lot though & if I miss doing them for a few days I know about it.

Hi everyone I’m back again for moral support. Got my MGB back in February. After a couple of extremely hard weeks, 5 weeks to be precise, i finally thought that my ordeal was over. I had spent all this time finding it really hard to drink water and reach my protein goals until then. Suddenly, starting the 6th week post op, i saw some light at the end of the tunnel and managed to expand my food a little bit. I avoided everything I was told to avoid until then, oil, sugar, pasta, rice, raw veggies, you name it! one day I was invited to a barbecue and ate what I was given, namely a bit of salad and some marinated chicken. Everything was fine for the days that followed and I was ecstatic! I started to experiment with food more and more and I realised that the food I tolerated the most was still just plain potatoes and carrots with some minced meat of chicken. However, as weeks went by, my sensitivities seemed to increase by the day. I’d try watermelon and suffer excruciating cramps the next day, so I stopped. Then I’d try beans, and I’d be fine the next day but suffer more cramps the day after, long story short, it seemed like every single new food I’d try was not tolerated by my stomach. The pain and cramps would be instant, and the explosive diarrhoea would follow the next morning like clockwork. I remember at some point, i barely ate for 2 days and what followed were the most painful cramps and hunger pangs I’ve ever ever experienced in my life! Looking at a plate of food triggers me now. I am absolutely scared of putting anything in my mouth. Even my trusted potatoes and carrots have forsaken me. That means I have not a single food that I seem to tolerate and I have absolutely no idea how this happened! Today, i tried boiled potato with some rotisserie chicken, and ended up vomiting 3 times. And when I say vomit, i mean, gag as if I would vomit, but only saliva comes out. i feel weak and desperate. I have lost 32kg in almost 4 months, that about 70 pounds. That is way too much weight. Let’s not start about my hair loss… it’s ridiculous. I plan to shave my head… i never in a million years thought this would be my life after the surgery. I have a doc appointment this week but only will see my surgeon in July… does this story sound familiar to any of you guys? Did I do something wrong? What did I miss?! I’ve been on the verge of going to the ER multiple times…

@Arabesque I went to a PT. I've had a back pain issue stemming from arthritis in the facets of my cervical spine since 2016. It took the VA 5 years to diagnose why I hurt and that STANDING is my trigger, but for that 5 years it seemed everything triggered intense stabbing pain, so I spent that time on my couch. The PT thinks my back pain is cumulative from the bad posture from always sitting on the couch + the weight loss, and it's probably the same issue with my neck, only because of the weight loss and changes in the dynamic of my spine, that walking is now a trigger too. He gave me some stretching and strengthening exercises, ordered a posture brace for me, and I have a chiropractor appointment on Thursday. I'm hoping it will help.

YES! I’m having liver flares of high alt/ast and vitamin b 12 over 2000. Mine come in flares and I get excruciating pain and end up in the hospital. My last high liver flares were so high I lost use of my legs temporarily. It was SO scary, the doctors told me I was crazy basically and after 6 months I finally got a doctor to believe me that something is wrong and he thinks it’s from the bypass :( I have neurological issues suddenly and I’ve always taken vitamins as directed. My highest weight was 227, lowest 137, currently at 150. I didn’t lost a crazy amount of weight but I’ve never been sicker and I never thought it could of been from bypass. I regret the surgery big time.

Thank you! I've watched many of the videos, and this provided the best explanation. Nutritionist broke my heart when he said I should have hit 15% excess weight loss by now. I was at 9%. Getting my water in, and averaging 800 calories, so it's hard to wonder why it's not progressing.

Hang in there! This is a great video describing what is going on: The TLDR Version: In the first three weeks, you are losing more weight than is possible given your calorie deficiency, that is extra water around your body. You actually become dehydrated in those first few weeks until your body regulates itself and starts to store some more water to get you out of that dehydrated state. That usually happens around week 3, so you stall. You are STILL losing fat, you are just retaining more (needed) water than the fat you are losing that week.

Thing to remember when approaching these & similar treatments is that’s what we have is more than just normal aging sagginess & skin laxity. So while people may have success with them they likely had laxity from aging not dramatic weight loss. Not sure when you had your treatments, but it takes time for the Morpheus8 micro needling/RF to work. It takes three months for your skin to cycle and for you to start to see improvement. I had 4 monthly treatments of SecretRF which is the same as Morpheus. I did it mainly to help with my acne scaring & any other benefits were a bonus. My skin texture & tone is more even & my skin is softer. There has been a slight tightening around my cheek bones - they are little more noticeable. My Beauty therapist thinks my acne scars aren’t as deep. And my unexpected bonus this month has been a reduction in lipstick bleeding. Whoo hoo! Do I still have saggy jowls? Yes & I may not see any real improvement there but that’s okay. I still have another couple of months to discover new wins. My cosmetic physician who performed the treatments said you can continue to see improvement for 6 months after your last treatment. What’s Evolve?

Congrats, 85 lbs is a lot. I've lost around 46 pounds and I've been stuck in the same or similar weight for a while. i had two setbacks this year due to injury. In the beginning of the year I twisted my ankle walking in icy conditions. And in April I fell in the street and bruised/broke some ribs, so that limited my exercise for a while. i've started exercising again and hope there will be no more injuries. I'm tracking my eating through myfitnesspal and I'm eating 1000 to almost1400 cals per day. Most days it's around 1200 per day. Myfitnesspal is always saying something like: "If every day were like today... You'd weight 87.5 kg in 5 weeks", And yet that doesn't happen. Is it possible my body has adjusted to a lower calorie amount? Or will I be able to start losing again once I can exercise more?

Thank you everyone who responded, I needed that logical thinking and reassurance. @Fred in Pa i really appreciate the recommendations around exercise before and after. I’m going to try that. Also thanks for sharing your pizza moment. It makes me feel less the villain of myself and more human. @summerseeker I’ve been following along with your posts since I came here back in February and am always given a level head after reading your responses. You’re right that I shouldn’t make food the enemy; I just want to eat less overall while taking in good stuff. @summerset my team has me on 90 protein, 40 carbs and around 25-35 fat per day. I have been given the goal of keeping all of that within 800 calories until my fifth month I believe. I’m not perfect, I often go slightly over or under the 800. When I started adding exercise, my routine blew up because of the hunger Fred mentioned. I’ve been struggling to modify my intake to support exercise without exceeding the limits until I speak with my dietician again next month. I will email her today and ask if I should adjust these limits given my added activity. @learn2cook you’re so right about therapy. I do have a therapist I’ve been seeing for many years. I didn’t realize I had disordered eating until I started this process, but now I realize it has been there since I was a kid…. And she knew it too… I need to journal again. That’s a great idea. It helps calm that voice that torments me in my head, the one that simplifies food to “good” or “bad” and attempts to label me the same way. @catwoman7 great thoughts around starting weight and loss rate. It’s so hard not to compare myself. On the one hand I know losing slower will help with skin elasticity, but I also feel like I’m failing or doing something wrong until a friend like you reminds me of the reality. Thanks for that 🙏

Like the others have shared, your weight is lower so loosing will be slower. My program doesn’t count carbs either, but I only give them side eye because they might make me dump. Food isn’t evil, it nourishes us and keeps us healthy and alive. Diet culture encourages this good/bad thinking. If you’re feeling stuck in rewind over fears and anxiety about eating and falling into old habits, it will only help you to seek a therapist who specializes in disordered eating. Like old me used to wake up in the middle of the night to eat 1-2 lbs of M&M’s in secret. Then I would run 4-6 miles for two weeks everyday to even out the calories. Newer me says, let’s do some yoga to get the feeling out of my body, then journal to explore the feelings that are honestly bothering me. That’s how therapy helps you to differentiate and evolve. Are you throwing all your energy and attention into making pizza, milk and a few candies into a monumental experience of all your life efforts? Or is pizza just pizza? Only you know.

This surgey was not something I took lightly. I prayed about it and prepared for 8 months before I got the call for Dec 19, 2022. I made this decision purely for my health as I’m sure most of you did as well. I was starting to have heart problems and my knees would hurt as I walked down the stairs. I was told it would be life changing and when it came to the weight loss it has been, but the complications that have bombarded me has me questioning if it was worth it. I don’t want to scare anyone off, because ninety-nine percent get through their gastric sleeve and adapt after the initial healing, but I have always been the one percent. You see I was the one percent with my pain management as well because I took steroid shots to my back after giving birth to my daughter. This went on for 10 years and then I developed adrenal insufficiency because my body became dependent on the hormone. It could no longer produce its own cortisol so I was then on the precipice of dying if I didn’t start a steroid regimen immediately among my diagnosis. I literally was down to that one percent of cortisol in my body. For five years I suffered unimaginable low energy, adrenal crisis when my body was to stressed, countless hospital visits and of course massive weight gain from cushions disease. I thought nothing would ever be as bad as that time in my life when I finally recovered after those five years and stopped my steroids. But the damage was done and I was severely obese at my heaviest of 270 and on top of that my thyroid suffered in the process so I could never get the weight off. Thats what led me to the only solution my doctor had and the realization that their are things worse than Addisons disease, at least for me. Since my surgery I have not been able to keep any food down. I have had to be admitted to the hospital for days on end where I would go back to the liquid diets. A few weeks ago I had a little tuna and my body rejected it with a fury sending me to the hospital for five days where I had two emergency surgeries. The doctor couldn’t believe what he was seeing on my mri. Somehow so much scar tissue has devolved that it was causing my sleeve to be pulled by my gallbladder and they were attached so we thought that was the reason I couldn’t keep any food down. After I came out of that surgery I felt relief and I wanted to cry because another thing I forgot to mention is that I had been nauseous 24/7 since my sleeve surgery, but for those five hours after waking up from the anesthesia and pain meds I felt normal. The nausea was gone. But the next day it was back with a vengeance and more imaging found that my gallbladder was infected and had to come out immediately. So under I went for the 3rd time in 6 months reentering the same wounds that still hadn’t healed. And again for a while I wanted to cry out that it’s a miracle, it’s all better, but as soon as all the meds wore off I was right back were I started. I also had to have a drain put in because their had been blood pooling around my sleeve since the first surgery. All they could do was prescribe me 3 medications to control the vomiting. I lost 7 pounds during that hospital stay. When I got home after being on a liquid diet for a few more days I slowly eased into the soft foods, but to this day after every meal or healthy snack I make my way to that porcelain hell were I retch until the nausea calms. I then take my nausea medications and Valium to relax my stomach muscles. It usually takes about three hours and then I do it all again because I’m only eating twice a day to avoid being sick morning, noon, and night. The only thing that has changed is the constant nausea, it’s now only after I eat something. I’m literally living off of soft cheese and fruit, but more than a few bites and all hell breaks loose. I can tell how malnourished I am because my hair is falling out in clumps and my skin is dry. I’m drinking as much liquid as I can, but dehydration is always around the corner. My doctor says I’m loosing more weight than he anticipated so I always thought hearing those words would bring me joy, but I’m so depressed and have no energy for my family so I have to ask myself daily was it worth it? Will it get better with more time? Again, I don’t want to scare anyone because their are more good stories on here than bad. I simply want to share my story because there is no other like it and that scares me. My daughter is always asking if I could die, she did this when I was sick with addisons too? I tell her if things get better before I reach my healthy weight of 130 then I’ll be ok because right now even though i’m not getting the calories I need my body still has enough fat storage to feed off of, but at the rate I’m loosing- a pound every other day, I will be severely malnourished if it gets to that point. Most people say the surgery is a blessing, but for me it may still be, but a blessing in disguise. I have spoken with my doctor and he doesn’t have the answers. I have scoured medical journals and comment boards also with no answers. If there is anyone on here that is going through the same thing please reach out and if you prefer to talk in private my email is marsgirl22@gmail.com. I know this was truly a long post, but my journey has been just as long and I hope that my story can help someone else to get the answers that seem to allude me. Oh and just for clarification of how rapidly I am losing I started at 260 pounds two weeks before my surgery and now I am 175 pounds and counting down. Bless you all for taking the time to read my story and I sincerely hope you want hesitate to help me if you can.

not all programs are low-carb, so the 77 carbs shouldn't matter one way or the other. When I was in weight loss mode, I was averaging around 80 carbs a day, and would sometimes get up to 100 (I wasn't counting them because my program didn't restrict carbs, but I knew how many I was getting because I'd see it in my tracker). also, with regard to pizza, I was eating the toppings off one slice of pizza when I was about was about where you're at (I probably only had it once every couple of months, though) so I don't think what you're eating is necessarily a problem. I noticed that you also started at a lower weight than many of us, so you're not going to lose as quickly as someone who started out 50, 100, or 150 lbs heavier than you, so there's that. And on top of that, keep in mind that the closer you get to goal, the slower those lbs are going to come off. There were months near the end of my journey (i.e, within 20 or 30 lbs of my goal) that I'd lose a pound or two, besides really working at it. But...I did eventually get to my goal - it just took a lot of work and time.

I am a firm believer that food addiction is just like most others. With that in mind, having a slice of pizza is like “It’s just one little shot of tequila” for an alcoholic. One leads to two…and so one. I am also a firm believer that this is the main reason people gain back weight or completely fail after Bariatric surgery. It’s a constant struggle. Keeping that perspective, one slice of pizza is not worth it. I’m not perfect and will fail at times but keeping the above perspective helps to ensure I will be successful in the long run. If I tell myself that one slice is fine, I will soon convince myself that so is two.

So? How many calories was that? Why? Eating low carb is not necessary. Low carb is a trend, just like low fat was in the 90s. It's calories that count. Eat less than your body burns and you're going to lose weight, low carb or not. Restricting yourself more than the situation calls for means setting yourself up for burnout without it being necessary No, your body is fighting back. Put a normal weight person who've never had eating issues on a diet like yours and watch them freaking out and getting obsessed with food. Your body needs nutrients - also your mind needs nutrients (yes, that includes macronutrients like carbohydrates as well), even while losing weight.