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I'm so sorry for your loss. I agree with others who suggested counseling, but if that's not something you want to do, maybe meditation, doing a charity walk for a cause related to their death (If applicable), channeling your grief into making some physical object that reminds you of them, taking up a new exercise program, joining a grief support group, listening to music, journaling... I hope you find something that can help you in your grief.

Hi there, My doctor said that you may be able to eat more but you shouldn’t because your nerves endings have just been cut and are healing so your stomach isn’t able to tell you how full you are. You could cause unknown damage because you simply can’t feel the pain and think you can eat more. He told me after about two months I would be able to tell the difference but early on it’s risky. Also water is more important than food early on, if you become dehydrated your body can have longer weight loss stalls because it is unable to produce more glycogen or something with a G. (Sorry just repeating what my doc said a few days ago to me). I’m two and a half weeks post op. Hope this helps!

I'm not measuring or counting calories but at this point, I'm doing a version of whole30 which is just meat/veg/nuts/healthy fats. I struggled to finish one egg from my eggs in purgatory dish (it agrees with me again!) and probably ate 1.5 ounces of sous vide pork chip last night with 6 slices of roasted mushrooms. I eat until fullness, which tends to feel like tightness in my chest. I have not experienced any hiccups, runny nose, or sneezing. Usually, I'll get a "warning" which is a slight chest tightness but it goes away in a few seconds. I'll slow down and wait a few min and have one or two more bites and then I'll feel a sustained tightness and I know I am done. Also, weighed myself this week and lost 4 pounds since last week, 19 pounds since surgery (~5 weeks), 30 since before pre-op diet (~7 weeks). I felt like it was somewhat slow but the average is about 4 pounds per week, which would land me to nearly 90 pounds weight loss in 6 months if I continue at this rate.

For anyone who is 5 or 6 weeks post-op, how many ounces per meal are you eating? I am 5 weeks post-op and I'm eating around 2.5 - 3 ounces per meal sometimes. I think my body may need more as I approach the 6 week mark. Per my program, at 6 weeks we start eating 4 ounces of food and it's all foods, but only healthy ones of course. I still pay attention to when I start having hiccups which I use as my sign to stop eating. I dont want to mess up my still healing tummy or my weight loss progress so I am very conservative in food selection. I'm in Stage 3 of my food plan which is Soft Foods until next Tuesday which will be the 6 week mark. So, I'm curious about folks who are at the 5 or 6 week mark. How many ounces are you eating for lunch and dinner? How do you know that your pouch wants you to stop? Thanks!

This is sort of weird, but today I had an appointment with the surgeon who started me on this whole path. Years ago I went to him for an umbilical hernia, but it was small and not painful, so nothing needed to be done. Last year in January, I went back to him to have my gallbladder removed and mentioned that I had been having elevated liver enzymes for a while and would be seeing a specialist. He biopsied my liver when he took out the gallbladder. At my follow up, he said my liver was really bad (NASH, hepatic fibrosis), and recommended wls. He told me he couldn't see me living past 60 if I stayed that way, at 393 pounds. So I took his advice and had my Loop DS in July. Last week I had severe stomach pain and nausea and dry heaves, and would have vomited if my stomach wasn't empty at the time and I almost fainted, but was able to lay down in time to stop that. I've fainted before so I knew what was coming and was able to avoid it. The pain in my stomach was severe and then I noticed the hernia was big and sticking out and I couldn't push it back in and realized it might be the source of the pain. Anyway, I saw the surgeon today and he said the hernia was originally fat, but since I've lost so much weight,(148 so far), it is now intestine and the pain was because intestine got caught in the hole, and later when I laid down the intestines fell back through the hole and the pain got better. Anyway, sorry this is long, but now I have to get this hernia repaired, but I got to show off my weight loss to that surgeon that recommended it, and he was so happy for me. It was a great feeling! He is the trauma surgeon in the ER where my best friend works, and he saw her after my appointment and told her he didn't even recognize me! It's just a wonderful feeling! Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

See my post on My sleeve experience - it’s long and detailed. The pluses - weight loss to goal, no vitamin deficiencies. The negs - GERD!!! Do it again? Tough to answer, because it’s been 15 years and I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have it. Dead? Massive Stroke? Or maybe a healthy, but fat 51 year old? Who knows? Lol. Quality of life is severely diminished with GERD, but my friends have had the bypass, and that’s a tough road too. My advice? If your happy, healthy, but fat - don’t do anything. Wear beautiful clothes, don’t take yourself too seriously, laugh, enjoy your friends and your life! If you’re suffering and the future is looking bleak, grill your doctor about GERD and find a surgeon that understands it and mitigates the risks. See my post for all the right questions! I’d do the sleeve, but find the right surgeon. The ones who’ve been doing for over 20 years are the best - they know some tricks to avoid GERD, and they test you for GERD before surgery. If your surgeon doesn’t mention GERD or downplays it - RUN!

Yoghurt, cheese, multi/whole grain crackers or carrot or celery sticks with hummus or liverwurst (watch the fat content though) are my go to snacks. I even do the odd teaspoon of peanut paste. Small pieces of cooked chicken, smoked salmon with cream cheese wrapped around a chunk of cucumber are other options. I also snack on fresh fruit - no protein but lots of other nutrients. Watch the protein bars & check their nutrition panels carefully. Some have a lot of artificial sugar which can restart any sugar cravings or can be high carb. I found some of the higher protein ones a bit gluggy to eat & the really low carb ones seemed all air & no substance. I keep mine in the fridge - they seem to taste better cold for some reason. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Congrats on your weight loss.

This happened to me with fluids, it would not go down. The reflux, heartburn were so painful I would throw up. Not to mention I was severely dehydrated, it was awful. I had a scan that showed the fluid stuck literally in my throat. They said this was very dangerous because it can go into the lungs and I went into surgery days later, right in the middle of the pandemic when hospitals only took emergency cases, last July. I was so scared, everyone in the hospital was paranoid as was I. My surgeon looked like an astronaut he was so covered up when he performed the surgery. I had to mention this because that showed how incredibly dangerous the lap band can be. And that is where the nightmare began. I had this weight so under control that I truly felt I would never put on the weight again. Exercising daily, eating very healthy, I really thought this was it. No more struggles after 10 years of keeping it under control. And then in one year, it all came back and then some. I remember my surgeon saying, most people have a revision to remove scar tissue and then have the sleeve done to keep the weight under control. Who could have known that this would be so incredibly hard? It was devastating. If I knew then what I know now I would have done it even thinner because this is, for me anyway's, a way of life. I must always try and try hard to stay on the path of mindful eating and exercising. Day 16 post op 13lbs weight loss Started bike riding. I had mine on the 26th and have lost 13 lbs. I am so excited !!!!! i have the go-ahead to exercise but I am not really eating so I am being careful. so excited to start this next chapter. It was impossible for me to lose 13 lbs before, I feel so much better knowing the weight is finally starting to come off!

it sounds like you need to do more reading and research. Spend some time on this forum - there's a lot of good info here and a ton of people who've had the various surgeries. Also, there are a lot of books out on weight loss surgery (WLS). One that comes to mind is "Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies" - I haven't personally read that one, but a lot of patients claim they really liked it and got a lot of out of it.

regain can happen with any surgery, even the most powerful of all, the DS (duodenal switch). Losing the weight and keeping it off takes a lot of commitment - for life. People who say you're taking the easy way out are dead wrong. This takes A LOT of work. Hair loss is very common with all weight loss surgeries. the good thing is, it's temporary. It grows back. And a majority of us don't lose enough for others to notice (although WE notice it, of course...). A few people don't lose any hair at all. To many of us who are long past that stage, the hair loss was a small price to pay for the benefits we got from the weight loss. Vitamin deficiency can happen in bypass patients if they don't keep on top of their vitamins. You will have to take vitamins for life regardless of surgery, but the consequences for slacking off are more severe for bypass patients than sleeve patients. However, if you're diligent about taking your vitamins, vitamin deficiencies are pretty rare, even in bypass patients

Thanks so much for responding. I appreciate you taking the time to tell me your stories. What was the final straw for you to finally make that move to go to a surgeon? Did something happen or were you just fed up with being overweight and just decided to go through with it? I guess I just have reservations about doing it. I know a few people who had the gastric bypass. One is gaining his weight back 3 yrs in and the other a female seems to have put alittle bit of her weight back but she has had ALOT of hair loss. She also had skin removal not long after her weight loss. Both seem deficient in vitamins etc. I just dont want to go through all this and ultimately end up gaining it back. Id like to think that I could say on target and make a change in my eating habits and the types of food I eat but seeing others starting to put the weight back on makes me second guess doing it.

I’m so sorry for your loss. For me, I believe that not facing grief helped me to gain weight. In 2009 and 2010 I lost two brothers and my dad. All had chronic issues they’d been dealing with so the stress and sadness was well before their passings. I think if I’d had better coping strategies I could have met the sadness instead of shoving it down. finding a professional to share your struggle with is an excellent idea. I hope you have supportive people around you. Personally I’d try to keep away from the alcohol, but that’s a decision only you can make. Again, I’m so sorry.

I am so sorry for your loss, I would look into therapy for help if possible for assistance.

My PCP is Dr. Gia Dice .. she's located off Datapoint. She was an oncologist/hemotologist before she went into internal medicine. I really like her ... she's been very supportive in my many, many weight loss attemps over the years.

Don't forget to measure! My weight will stall but my inches seem to go when the scale doesn't show loss!

it's probably safe to get a tattoo pretty early on (but I'd ask your clinic just to be sure), but the thing to keep in mind is your shape is going to change quite a bit, depending on how much weight you lose. People often have sagging, hanging skin on their arms and legs after massive weight loss (well, torso, too - but you asked about arms and legs). So your tattoo would sag and hang right along with it. It may not be affected too much on your lower leg or arm - but upper extremities can get pretty saggy.

there's some malabsorption involved with bypass (not so with sleeve), so you have to take vitamins for life to avoid deficiencies (you will also have to take vitamins for life with sleeve, but the consequences aren't as severe if you're not diligent with them). But the malabsorption is also part of the reason people tend to lose more weight with bypass, because you malabsorb calories along with nutrients. However, malabsorption of calories with bypass only lasts about two years. Malabsorption of nutrients is permanent, so you really have to be diligent about keeping on top of your supplements. Dehydration isn't an issue with bypass. You have to drink at least 64 oz of fluids a day with either surgery, but I've never read about any dehydration issues with bypass (I've been on this and other bariatric forms for about six or seven years - that issue has never come up that I'm aware of) as far as why I chose bypass: 1) my surgeon recommended it because I had GERD pre-surgery (sleeve can make GERD worse in about 30% of people. Bypass tends to improve if not outright cure it) 2) I went along with his recommendation because I didn't want to risk my GERD getting worse 3). I weighed over 300 lbs, so I wanted the most powerful surgery I could get (if my insurance covered the DS (duodenal switch), I might have gone for that instead. But it only covered sleeve and bypass) 4) At the time I had my RNY, the sleeve was still relatively new. It was in the process of replacing the lap band as the major non-RNY weight loss surgery option. The lap band turned out to be a not-so-great surgery (to the point where most surgeons refuse to do it now), and I didn't want to risk the sleeve becoming "Lap Band 2". However, that was a few years ago. The sleeve has been around long enough at this point that it's proven itself, so I would no longer have this particular concern if I had to make the decision today. HOWEVER, due to my GERD issues, I would still choose the bypass if I was facing that decision now. If not for that, I'm not sure which one I would go with. They're both good surgeries, and you'll find a lot of success stories with both.

you can eat around ANY surgery, even the DS (the most powerful weight loss surgery out there) and regain all your weight. However, stats on that are a little better for bypass than for sleeve (in other words, you're less likely to regain all your weight with the bypass). However, stats are stats - it really comes down to the individual. Regardless of surgery, you'll always find people who never gain any of it back, and others who put on a few lbs (10-20 lbs after hitting bottom is very common - but with some people it's more like 40 or 50 lbs), and still others who gain it all back. I wouldn't say that MANY people regain all their weight with bypass (or with sleeve). Some do, but they're in the minority. There are a lot who gain a good 40 or 50 lbs though (or even more) if they start slacking off too much.

I'm not from San Antonio, but whenever I've looked for a new primary, I look for online reviews. Of course, that's not going to tell you if the person in judge-y about obesity and weight loss surgery, but if the reviews generally say the person is empathetic, they might be OK with these issues, too. And if not, it's usually easy enough to switch..

Hi I am very new to this forum. I had my gastric sleeve done on 15/apr/21 pre op weight :299 lbs Current. Weight : 272 lbs. weight loss 27 lbs somehow I feel my weight loss is not as much as others who had surgery near when I had mine. The whole of last week I have lost less than 1 lb :( Is anyone facing such an issue ? I am feeling so low now

I have told my family and my best friend. I wont tell others because people that have never been overweight or obese havent got a clue. They are judgemental even if they say they arent. In subtle ways and in not so subtle ways I have been treated differently by most people because of my weight. The last thing I want to hear is someone said “she took the easy way out”. This is far from the easy way out. Being a diabetic nearly made weight loss impossible for me. I do not see it as a lie in any way. I see it as a personal choice. I dont owe it to any one to be truthful about this journey as long as Im truthful with myself.

Today marks five weeks since surgery. I am down 25lbs since surgery day, so 5lbs/week thus far. I did hit a stall for a little over a week around week 3-4 but weight loss has resumed. This has been an amazing time, fingers crossed for continuing positive progress! hw 267 sw 247 cw 221 gw 175

Hi all, i’m nearly 4 month out from RNY bypass i’m taking my vitamins and extra hair, skin and nails supplements, i’m also reaching my protein goal each day but my hair has been falling out really badly. Does anybody have any advice ? treatments to use ? thanks xx

Technically I didn't have the gastric sleeve surgery as I had the Loop DS/ SADI-S/SIPS surgery instead, BUT my surgery INVOLVES a gastric sleeve stomach. It just has the added intestinal bypass bit. I don't know if that counts for what you want to know though lol. But I'll answer anyway about my own WLS experience. I'm 15 months out. I had only one complication. That complication? I developed a wheat allergy. Any surgery with the malabsorption bit has something like a 3% chance of developing either a wheat allergy or Celiac Disease. I just happened to be one of the unlucky ones, but the bright side of it is that it keeps me on track because I can't eat 95% of the foods I used to love now due to the allergy lol. If I had to do it all over again I'd either stick with the surgery I chose or go with the old fashioned DS (but only because I really hate constipation issues and with the old DS you have the opposite problem, which is a problem in itself I guess lol). I was told the best WLS options to help with diabetes or pre-diabetes are ones that have malabsorption. And those are the ones that involve the intestinal bit (this was what my surgeon told me, btw because diabetes runs in my family). Those surgeries are Gastric Bypass, Duodenal Switch (DS), or Loop Duodenal Switch (SADI-S/SIPS). When I first went in for my surgery consult in May 2019 in which I'd had my mind set on the Gastric Sleeve I was told that since I had a BMI above 50 (it was almost 61 at the time) I was in the highest class of obesity and classified as 'super morbidly obese' (I cried). They recommended the DS or Loop DS to me because statistically they have the highest weight loss percentage and because I'm partially disabled (due to back injuries and osteoarthritis) I needed to really rely on average statistics (if you're not disabled and can exercise and follow your surgical and dieting guidelines then you can by all means surpass the average so don't get stuck on statistics if you don't have those issues). However, I also bounced around with whether I wanted that or Gastric Bypass due to potential GERD issues with the Loop DS because of the sleeved stomach (my gastroenterologist wanted me to do the GB lol while the surgeon was pushing for the DS or Loop DS). I ended up choosing the Loop DS after months of going back and forth between that and the Gastric Bypass. I had high blood pressure before my surgery and because mine is genetic (literally my sister is the only adult in our family who doesn't have it) I still have it. I was TOLD if my high blood pressure is genetic then the surgery likely wouldn't help it. It did improve it though. I used to take my BP meds every other day, but now I take them every three days and my blood pressure has been perfect with that. In the end the choice of what surgery you choose is very much your own. Do your research. Weigh the pro's and con's. Ask the surgeon questions. If you actually go to the office and SEE people (damn Covid may make it so you don't see people) ask if they've had surgery and ask them about their experiences (I did). Just choose whatever surgery you feel comfortable with. Every surgery has their ups and downs and everyone's experience is different. Also, congrats on the start of your journey and I wish you the best! You can do it!