Search the Community

Hi, SAS. I'm so sorry to hear that you feel this forum is not a supportive environment. Aside from my surgeon's office, I actually found Bariatric Pal to be the best place to turn for support, advice and information. I learned so much from the other members here and found that as a rule we encouraged each other and cheered the successes of other members. I have seen the types of "shaming" posts you are talking about, but in my experience they are few and far between--and I think they are far outweighed by the positive and helpful posts. You will sometimes see "tough love" posts in response to people whose behavior suggests that they are not taking their diets seriously, but sometimes that's what they need. There's a difference between that and bullying or shaming. I had my surgery in February 2019, and there was a thread for all of us who had surgeries that month. We became like a social club and really got to know each other, and I found that tremendously helpful during the first 6 to 8 months. (I will admit that we are no longer very active now that we are all in maintenance.) Like you, I have not found any other sites that are as active as this one. I would urge you to stick with Bariatric Pal for a while. Hopefully you will find the support here that I have, and you can simply ignore the few people who engage in shaming. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have via a private message if you like (although I had bypass, not a sleeve). I wish you all the best going forward, and I hope you find the support you need, whether it's here or elsewhere.

I was 59 when I had surgery and am now 61. No regrets whatsoever, and just wish I had done it sooner. I was also told by a doctor that I should consider surgery after decades of yo-yo dieting, including multiple commercial diets (Atkins, Optifast, Nutri-System, etc.). Yes, I lost weight every time, and gained it back much more quickly than it had taken to lose it. My doctor was blunt: I had another 10 to 12 years before a major cardiac incident that I might not survive. That was the push I needed to get surgery. He also told me that there was little possibility at my age of losing a meaningful amount of weight and keeping it off. I also considered surgery the "easy way out." As anyone here can tell you, however, that is definitely not the case. It's a tool that will help you lose a lot of weight quickly, but it still takes lifelong discipline and a mental shift in the way you view food. I didn't realize before surgery how easy it can be to gain the weight back after a few years if you return to your old eating habits. The bottom line: DO IT! Your health and quality of life will be improved immeasurably!

Yes, but the reflux doesn't have acid in it. My vagus nerve was cut and that has something to do with acid release in the stomach, so I don't have acid, but whatever is left in gastric juice after the acid is removed burns just like the acid did. I had my esophagus widened, too, because I had a stricture, and now the lower esophageal junction valve doesn't work any more, so it is easier for the reflux to come up. That was a risk I knew about going in to surgery. My surgeon swore I would not have acid reflux after surgery and technically he is correct, but I still have gastric juice reflux. I am still trying to figure out what causes my heartburn. Sometimes it's food related and I think the iron I take also might cause it. But I want to be clear, on a scale of 1-10, where I was and where I am now. Before surgery, I would have said my quality of life with GERD was about a 2. My reflux was not controlled at 3X the regular dose of omeprazole and I regurgitated everything I swallowed multiple times. I woke up numerous times a night with acid. Now I'd say I'm about a 7-8. There are many days when I don't have reflux or heartburn and I don't regurgitate anything anymore. I wake up one or two nights a week.

I've been making some tasty meals but my phone is dead and I havent been able to take pictures! 😭 Come on pixel 5/iphone 12... My recent fav has been shiozake, japanese salted salmon. Cut salmon into 2 oz filets, marinate in sake for 10 mins, pat dry and coat in salt. Line a tupperware with paper towels and stick it in the fridge. Broil on a sheet pan for 5 mins, no need to flip. I do this for breakfast every morning these days, so easy and good

I had my surgery 7/27 of this year. Due to COVID-19 my practice didn't allow guests into the waiting or recovery rooms, so I don't think it will strike them as unusual at all. The nurses and surgeon were very busy getting prepped for surgery so I doubt they would care if nobody was around with or without COVID restrictions. I will echo loridee's comment- Having my cell phone on me was able to help distract my mind while in the waiting room. I didn't end up using it much post-op.

I got my date! October 19

I am 6 years out from surgery. I started out at 371. I am now at 234. I’ll answer your questions in the order you asked them: - What foods do you avoid? (Fatty foods? Carbs? Can you tolerate small amounts?) Foods I avoid: Rice! and Carbonated beverages. Both have a very negative effect on my stomach even now. Rice seems to grow once it gets in my stomach causing it to feel overfull. Carbonated beverages are to be avoided anyway but occasionally it’s the only thing around to sip and never has there been a time that I didn’t regret it! - Do you have diarrhea? Occasionally but it’s rare and usually something I know is going to happen. Constipation is a bigger issue and my go to remedy is a slice of plain cheesecake. Seriously. It works better than anything else. To help keep things moving I am sure to add real butter to any carbs I eat. Sometime I use MCT oil to help keep things moving but be careful cause it can cause very loose stool.  - How many Vitamins do you take? Have you experienced Vitamin deficiencies? Have you had to get infusions? I use PERSONA now for vitamins They do an assessment that determines your vitamin needs for me that is one Bariatric Multi, 8 Calcium Citrates spaced out in three doses, Vitamin D, and a Probiotic. I was seriously anemic and had to do iron infusions until I had a hysterectomy July 2019. Now I’m normal and won’t need them again. I take powdered Collagen in my coffee everyday to keep my hair growing, my skin from drying, and my muscle from aching. - Do you struggle to maintain your weight loss? Do you feel like you are constantly on a diet? Weight loss is a constant struggle, you will not lose on a smooth downhill slide. It will fluctuate and drop suddenly then rise and fall like ocean waves. Keeping the weight off is the challenge and with the DS weight gain is less likely it still is very possible if Carbohydrates are your source of comfort in times of struggle and stress. You won’t feel like you are on a diet, you will feel like you are a slave to your stomach. You’ll spend an hour making the most delicious meal and take two bites and be full. You’ll find that foods you once loved now don’t make your new stomach all that happy. But with all that you lose and all that is frustrating comes so much amazing stuff like feeling average sized. Shopping in a average clothing store, sitting in theater seats or airplane seats or really any seats and not worrying about what the person next to you might think. Saving so much money cause you can split meals with friends.  - Anything else you wish you had known before surgery? My words of advice: find a local support group or an online one if you can’t find one in your area and stay faithful to going to meetings and events for at least one full year but two would be better. Your family and friends will have no idea what you are going through and will say things that will be surprisingly hurtful but they won’t mean it that way, like “Wow, you look how small you’ve gotten!” (Internal thought: I must have been huge) You’ll need people who know not to say those things and instead say “You are making great progress! I am so glad to see you again!” Good Luck! It gets better! Walk Sip Walk Sip Never Trust a Fart! 😜

No surgeries. Yeah, the worst is the unknown. I've had more surgeries than I can count, so I'll take you through it. First, do what they tell you to do. It probably won't end the world if you're a few minutes off, but try to stick to the instructions. Things vary by surgeon and surgery, so I won't get into any specifics. If I hit on something your surgeon didn't mention, don't vex. For WLS, they may have you on a special diet, possibly liquid, for weeks before. This is because they want you lose weight to shrink organs and give them room to move about in there; They will likely turn off the last time you can eat or drink. This is because they'd prefer your stomach and upper intestines empty; You will be asked to show up at the hospital on the day of the surgery. They find it difficult to operate if you're not there, so it's best to show up; They will have you gown, setup your IV, maybe give you something to relax you. Now is when you start waiting. Once I was old enough to read, I started bringing books. Cell phone might work, but some hospitals are testy about cell phones; Eventually, the Doc will come in and say hi and talk about things. My Doc made sure he asked everyone 2 questions: "You know you can die?" and "Do you want to continue?" Yours will do it slightly differently; More waiting; The Anesthesiologist will make an appearance. The order of Doc & Anesthesiologist may be reversed. The Anesthesiologist will talk about things like smoking, what issues you may have had in the past, and whatever else tweaks his/her fancy; More waiting. How the book going? A Nurse will come in, get rid of anyone waiting with you, then wheel you into the OR. It's cold. They'll scoot you onto the operating table. Everyone is doing something but you. You're just laying their; Soon enough, everyone settles into starting positions, the starting gun fires, and we're off. Your Anesthesiologist will ask you to count backwards from 10. Or the alphabet, or whatever this Doc does; OK, 10, 9, 8... You sleep through all the exciting stuff; You become aware that you are more or less awake. Someone will notice and come over to check on you. You're doing fine. The get you more awake, eventually your whoever can come in to sit with you. They'll bring your book, but you really don't have the focus to do much of anything; You're Doc told you if you are going home today or not. Back for mine, it was a 3 day thing. Nowadays, you might have an overnight stay, maybe not. I don't know if you're going home. Pay attention. It's hard, so don't worry about it. If you're going home, they'll get you stable and awake, give you instructions; More waiting; They'll come in and tell you to get dressed; More waiting; Ooh, going home paperwork! More waiting; You could have gone home hours ago, why are you still here? And out the door you go! After a bit more waiting; If you're not going home, they'll get you stable and move you to your room; This is mostly wating; If you get a magic button (for pain) push it. They may want you to drink (or not); They may give you food if the docs want's you to have it. (Mine wanted me to have puree, but I had 3 days to go); Enjoy the rest; You're now on the way home. Enjoy the ride; Good Luck and enjoy Tek

My time is pretty much up, my date is on 10/5 and I am getting so anxious/nervous! I've never had surgery before, so that is also adding to my anxiety. I trust my surgeon, but the preoperative anxiety is so real. One minute, I feel ready. The next, and I'm like "what are you doing?!" I know what I'm feeling is normal, but I'm naturally a worry wart and so nervous but I'll be the case with complications and/or regretting my decision. The unknown is the worst.

Me! I only lost about 30 lbs with sleeve and gained half of it back due to maladaptive eating to avoid the symptoms of severe GERD. I just had revision to bypass on the 18th and am down 20 lbs from the start of my liquid diet 10 days prior to surgery. My doc said he expects me to lose about 60-65% of my excess weight, so a little less than I’d bypass was my first surgery.

Hi guys. I am 2 years post op. Lost 20 kgs with the sleeve surgery and now i gained back 10! How can i get back on track?? Sent from my SM-N960F using BariatricPal mobile app

So many 10/14 surgeries here! I’m also October 14th 🤩

I am so excited that today I weighed less than my husband for the first time in our 11 year relationship! He was about 20 pounds lighter when we met, and I was 5-10 pounds lighter than my current weight. He is also about 6 inches taller than me 🤦🏼‍♀️ I am thankful for the ability to log over 7 hours of exercise, according to my Apple Watch, last week. I could never have done that 3 months ago. I am thankful for my neighbors. My next door neighbor hosted a neighborhood party last night and it just reaffirmed what an amazing neighborhood I get to live in. I am also thankful for all the support and ideas provided from everyone on this site.

Hey there! Coming back with a new Thankful Thread for this week after taking last week off. What are the things you are thankful for this week? I am thankful for so many kind, compassionate, and uplifting voices on this site and the knowledge that they possess and share. I'm thankful for finding some amazing 1-Carb low-cal tortillas and being able to share them with others here. I think I am going to pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store tonight and a jar of enchilada sauce just so I can keep using them. I'm thankful that I'll be taking a small vacation next week and visiting one of my favorite places again. There's some stress about COVID, but I've got a game plan to keep the risk to myself minimal. I'm thankful that I have lost enough weight that I can go hike in the woods for 2 hours and not feel completely sore and exhausted afterwards. How about you?

Hi all! Is there anyone here who got a revision from sleeve to bypass and lost more weight? If you did, did you gain wait after sleeve? My HW 280, Lowest sleeve weight was (2013)171, (2017)180 after 5 years, (2019) 190 on my wedding day and now w GERD and quarantine I’m 230 I get my surgery date this week for bypass. Are there any success stories of going back down to your lowest sleeve weight? I’m excited to no longer have to take omperozole but do want to lose and get back down to 170. Please let me know, looking for someone who achieved that lol

Your skin is like an elastic band. It can stretch & contract until it gets to a point it can’t contract any more. How much you weighed before surgery. How long you weighed that much. How much weight you want to lose. How old you are all affect your skin’s elasticity & how much lose skin you will end up with. I was feeling a bit cocky about how little loose skin I had but once I started losing the last 10 kgs & surpassed my goal, it all started to droop. I don’t have a lot compared to others & I’m not contemplating surgery. But you won’t see me waving my arms about or wearing shorty shorts. My little tummy pooch doesn’t show in form fitting clothes. One old hair band used a lot. One new band hardly used. 😁

In Aust the min bmi seems to 35. Some surgeons will operate on patients with a slightly lower bmi but they must have severe health complications (high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, etc.). It‘s not common for people to lose so much weight after surgery they attain a bmi in the low end of the healthy range or lower & stay there. Those that do drop to a bmi of 18 or 19 more often or not gain some again after because it’s difficult to maintain long term. Life kicks in, your hunger increases & metabolism slows again. The average weight loss after surgery is about 65% of the weight you need to lose to put you in the upper end of the healthy range after 5yrs. There are a couple of people on this forum who struggle to maintain & have a low bmi. I’m sort of one of those people. If I miss a meal or a snack I can drop weight. Do it a couple of times in a week & the drop sticks. Consequently, I’m very routine in my diet of when & what I eat - sometimes I feel like I eat all day which is challenging when I’m often not hungry. (Honestly, my GP & surgeon would like me to put on a couple of kilograms but I’ve dropped a kilo in the last 2 - 3 months so I’m a bit nervous to go back next month.) What is your goal weight? As with all things in life if you put in the hard work & are committed to your plan (very careful with your diet & very active) you can attain your goals & maintain it. However balance is key. You have to be able to live the life you want at a weight you are happy with. I hope I don’t sound negative. Your concern is legitimate. I suggest you speak with your surgeon & nutritionalist about your worries. Good luck.

I asked this question of the Patient Coordinator and was told that the insurance goes by the weight of my first Surgeon appointment. Of course you may have different requirements... Your Patient Coordinator may be able to advise you. I believe my 'packet' will be submitted to my insurance (Aetna) next week. To be certain, I ensured that I didn't go below at any point in the process. Started the process in Nov '19. Best of luck to you!!

it took me about 1.5 months before I had the energy to really start working out and another half of a month to get back to it. I walked here and there in the first couple months, but my energy levels were way low and it was exceptionally hot out and it really wore me out. it's tough to get the energy when you aren't really eating much in those first few weeks. Now I am a little over 3 months post-op and I work out everyday for about an hour and make it a priority. I do 3 days of 30-minute full-body strength routines and aim for 250-300 minutes of cardio a week, usually hiking (2 hours a week but I am trying to do more) and walking (usually 2.5-3+ miles at a time with hills). I also add in random 10-min barre/toning workouts a few days a week when I have the time.

Is it normal not to feel full? Does that come once solid food starts? Right now I am on protein shakes and Greek yogurt. I’m down 10 pounds so far.

Not an especially amazing outfit, but...I haven’t been able to wear the t-shirt in over 10 years. I have a stack of t-shirts from the last time I was at this weight. For some reason, I just couldn’t get rid of them. 😬 The only thing keeping the jeans from the floor is a belt, though😂 In the background, you can see one of three packed contractors garbage bags filled with clothes that are too big! Yay!

I'm 10/12 , I'm starting my pre op diet tomorrow!!! I do have a Facebook group I started just for those of us having surgery in October!!! I'm starting to get nervous!! Sent from my moto e5 go using BariatricPal mobile app

It takes 10 days for the nicotine to get out of your system.

I’m glad I read this because I wasn’t told the hunger glands came back! I was set back 2 weeks because I’m deathly allergic to cats & my eyes & throat almost completely swelled shut so I didn’t exercise for 1st 2 1/2 weeks. I only lost 19 lbs including pre op shakes but I started walking and swimming yesterday. I hope I make it past honeymoon stage because my surgeon said I should have lost minimum 35 pounds in 4 1/2 weeks. I’m still having trouble with water & shakes bc until the abandoned cat hiding in house was removed, I was pretty out of it. So I’m really just starting. So the lack of hunger only lasts 2 months? Ugh . I’m just glad I finally had the sleeve surgery so I have it in my head to really start serious again. It’s weird I didn’t lose laying in bed not taking much in because swollen throat. Second that Persian cat was removed to neighbors I was better fast. Thanks for everyone’s questions and advice on here.