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Collagen peptide is considered an incomplete protein & won’t count towards your protein goals. It lacks many of the essential amino acids. Whether it helps with hair, skin, etc. is another question. I added collagen (& silica) to my yoghurt for about 5 months I think. Don’t think it really did anything though. Certainly didn’t change the texture of my new hair growth. (It won’t stop the post surgery hair loss as that hair is already dead & meant to fall out it just falls out faster for a couple of months.). My nails weren’t stronger. I upped my facials & did some other treatments to stimulate collagen production as well but I can’t say any of it really did anything except a temporary short term glow & plumpness. You might have a totally different reaction. It’s not uncommon for you to look drawn & notice additional wrinkles & facial creases while you are losing. But once your weight has stabilised, you’re eating more & a broader diet & your body seems to redistribute your weight you will look a lot better. I went from being told I looked like death while I was losing in my first year when taking the collagen to looking beautiful in my second year when I wasn’t taking it (according to my outspoken uncle 🙄).

K here’s one that’s not exactly an NSV, more like an NSF (no scale FAIL); Soon after surgery as the weight started coming off, i developed chronic/ongoing lower back and hip pain, which i learned was due to my bones and musculature forming/setting in a certain way over the years to support my larger frame and was no longer set optimally to support my shrinking frame. After a couple months, the pains went away, as I guess my body started re-aligning for my new size, with a big thanks to my exercise routine which i know helped. Anyway, around the time i got to goal, i started getting my lower back pain again (not all the time like before, but enough to be annoying), which i attributed to my bad seating posture. So i just kept doing core exercises and trying to sit up straight. No improvement. It’s been about 3 years since the pain came back and this week a chiropractor helped me finally figured out what the problem is! It’s my lack of stomach for effs sakes. Im a stomach sleeper and because i no longer have bulk in my midsection to prop up my spine from below, I was basically hyper exaggerating my lumbar curve, causing the pain. He told me to try sleeping with a pillow under my lower stomach for a few days and see if it helps. OMG it totally did. Its not as comforting as sleeping on my old bigger stomach, but at least i don’t have pain the next day. So a sorta win, lol. P.S. I realized i just wrote alot again. Sorry! Im feeling wordy tonight…

I have BCBS IL and it is a 3 month process for me. One nutritionist appointment a month with no weight gain, a psych evaluation, lab work with an H. pylori test, documented 3 year weight history, and a letter of medical necessity from primary care doctor. If insurance approves after everything then my surgery date will be sometime in August/September.

May I ask when your surgery was? I'm not expecting to reach my goal weight especially quickly.

Officially sleeved 6/16 with a hiatal hernia repair. My personal experience so far is buyer's remorse. I still have pain and struggle getting up from sitting, out of bed, and twisting/turning. I had flatulence and some bowel movement for the first time since before surgery. I've also gained 4 pounds since surgery despite only having clear liquids (popsicle, water, jello). I'm not at full-on regret, but really hope there's a light at the end of this tunnel very soon.

I was a bmi of 30 pre-op as well and am almost to a normal bmi. Long-term weight maintenance is the hard. Good for you for doing what’s best for you!

Surgery is June 23. Gastric bypass. Highest weight, 270 July 2021. Current weight 188 with 4 more days to go on my liquid diet. Height 5'6" BMI 30 (barely). Age 65. Why am I going through with surgery after losing 82 lbs pre-op? Statistics show that I will have a much better chance at keeping my weight off vs a 2-5% chance without the surgery . I'm tired of fighting obesity! I went on a weight loss mission, pre-op, to reduce my risk of post op complications and to train myself for life with my new anatomy. I'm ready!

Awesome! Congrats! Up here in Canada (well at least in Ontario) weight is not listed on our driver’s licenses, thank goodness. We do have height on there and since WLS i shrunk about 3/4 of an inch (i guess i had fat feet?!) So i suppose im lying on mine too 😂

Hello all! I was wondering what insurance in Arkansas covers weight loss surgery? I do have Arkansas Works through Blue Cross Blue Shield, which is funded by Arkansas Medicaid. I’ve been told by different hospitals that it doesn’t cover weight loss surgery. But I also chose this plan because I was told over the phone it paid for the vertical sleeve. I’ve researched a million different types of insurance, and been told a million different things. I fit all the criteria, and have the weight loss attempts documented. I’ve seen a therapist, nutritionist, and have a letter from a surgeon saying I could benefit from the surgery, which is all the conditions of BCBS. I’ve damn near had a surgery date set a handful of times, waiting on insurance approval but every time they say it’s excluded in my plan, and it’s upsetting because I begin the process being told it does cover. Pay out of pocket for other stuff, and get excited thinking it’ll be different this time. For the last 3 years, I’ve chosen insurance based on the coverage for bariatric surgery, then once I’m locked in to a plan and they tell me to go ahead and jump through all these hoops to make sure I fit the criteria while I wait for approval, I’m told differently and I’m disappointed. I’m getting a little upset!

I didn't have any buyers remorse until I hit my first stall. It lasted 2 weeks and I actually gained 5 pounds and then was just stuck. Once the stall broke, I started losing weight really slowly compared to before my stall, and I got SO upset. You can find my posts about it somewhere on here. Now things have picked up a little bit again (not as much as pre stall, but definitely better than right after) and I'm happy as can be again. I'm 6 1/2 weeks out, and I can eat what I want. But I'm very careful on making sure it sits right with my stomach and I only eat the amount I'm supposed to. I also make sure I'm taking in between 60-80g of Protein per day, less than 50g of carbs per day, and less than 50g of fats per day. I also eat 3 meals and sometimes 1 snack per day, and I eat less than 1/2 a cup of food per meal (or no more than 4oz of food if I need to use my food scale instead of a measuring cup). I never had a sweet tooth, and I never really cared for bread, Pasta, rolls, etc. So none of that has been an issue for me. MY big vices have always been fried, greasy, savory, tart, slightly sour flavors (for sour, think green olives). I also used to salt EVERYTHING....a LOT. Now I'm much more sensitive to salt and only use a very small amount on the rare occasions I use it at all. I will say this....if you are thinking about the same thing, or same types of things, over and over then it's head hunger and not real hunger. I know I'm hungry when my stomach starts to hurt a little and I would eat anything you put in front of me. It's usually after about 4 hours from the last time I ate. When I start thinking "I would sell my teenager for some tater tots and chili cheese fries" then I know it's a craving, which is head hunger. So I drink through it (protein shake or a smoothie or whatever I have on hand) and busy myself so I don't focus on it. When it's genuine hunger, then I eat. Eventually you WILL be able to eat what you want. But you have to hold yourself accountable and make yourself stick to your diet and portion sizes. No grazing. I never lost my hunger hormone and I never had an aversion to food like a lot of people on here do. So it's been a real struggle to stay on track. But it's possible, and sloooooowly my brain and body are learning that I AM actually eating enough and I DON'T need to eat until I feel like I'm going to pop. I promise you'll get there. And when you get on the scale and see it move every day or every few days (depending on how often you choose to weigh yourself) it'll give you that extra motivation to stick with it and keep going. You got this, and it'll definitely all be worth it in the end

I didn't have any buyers remorse until I hit my first stall. It lasted 2 weeks and I actually gained 5 pounds and then was just stuck. Once the stall broke, I started losing weight really slowly compared to before my stall, and I got SO upset. You can find my posts about it somewhere on here. Now things have picked up a little bit again (not as much as pre stall, but definitely better than right after) and I'm happy as can be again. I'm 6 1/2 weeks out, and I can eat what I want. But I'm very careful on making sure it sits right with my stomach and I only eat the amount I'm supposed to. I also make sure I'm taking in between 60-80g of protein per day, less than 50g of carbs per day, and less than 50g of fats per day. I also eat 3 meals and sometimes 1 snack per day, and I eat less than 1/2 a cup of food per meal (or no more than 4oz of food if I need to use my food scale instead of a measuring cup). I never had a sweet tooth, and I never really cared for bread, pasta, rolls, etc. So none of that has been an issue for me. MY big vices have always been fried, greasy, savory, tart, slightly sour flavors (for sour, think green olives). I also used to salt EVERYTHING....a LOT. Now I'm much more sensitive to salt and only use a very small amount on the rare occasions I use it at all. I will say this....if you are thinking about the same thing, or same types of things, over and over then it's head hunger and not real hunger. I know I'm hungry when my stomach starts to hurt a little and I would eat anything you put in front of me. It's usually after about 4 hours from the last time I ate. When I start thinking "I would sell my teenager for some tater tots and chili cheese fries" then I know it's a craving, which is head hunger. So I drink through it (protein shake or a smoothie or whatever I have on hand) and busy myself so I don't focus on it. When it's genuine hunger, then I eat. Eventually you WILL be able to eat what you want. But you have to hold yourself accountable and make yourself stick to your diet and portion sizes. No grazing. I never lost my hunger hormone and I never had an aversion to food like a lot of people on here do. So it's been a real struggle to stay on track. But it's possible, and sloooooowly my brain and body are learning that I AM actually eating enough and I DON'T need to eat until I feel like I'm going to pop. I promise you'll get there. And when you get on the scale and see it move every day or every few days (depending on how often you choose to weigh yourself) it'll give you that extra motivation to stick with it and keep going. You got this, and it'll definitely all be worth it in the end

I had my sleeve done eight years ago and since I had that surgery, I did well in the beginning, and it seems like after that year was gone! All hell broke loose; I was in and out of the hospital for not being able to keep food down and pain all the time and when I eat, as I swallow my food, I begin to choke and start back vomiting and weight loss is uncontrollable. So, has anyone ever experienced any problems since having the weight loss surgery?

re: no appetite - that's very common for the first few months after surgery. Hunger and appetite almost always come back sometime during the first year - mine came roaring back at five months out. To be honest, I wish it never had. Although it's very weird and a bit unsettling at first, it'll never be easier in your life to lose weight than it will be right now (and for the next few months), when you're never hungry and don't give a flip about food. Take full advantage of that!! in the mean time, you do need to keep hydrated and get your protein and other nutrients in - so if nothing else, eat and drink what you need to for those reasons.

YEAH! Weighing the same as your driver's license is such a great NSV (non scale victory)! When I was asked my weight at a doctors office (the ones that don't weight you) or for an activity like riding a horse I used to say "Do you want my real weight or my driver's license weight?" I always have to be the smart ass!

When I was younger I would never have thought I'd celebrate being overweight. But I'm so excited to be just overweight and not obese or Mobidly obese. And yesterday my weight on my drivers license is right. I had it at 185 for years since I was that weight after I had my now 20 year old daughter even at 290. I am really thinking of changing the weight to my goal weight of 160 so it doesn't lie the other way. Sent from my SM-A716U using BariatricPal mobile app

Oh yes. I felt that way many times in the beginning. The first several weeks are the hardest because you're still recovering from surgery, you have a lot of restrictions on what you can eat, you have to drink nasty protein shakes, and you haven't lost enough weight to feel the benefits of the surgery. Once you get to the regular foods stage and get the benefits of weight loss, things will get a lot easier. I'm almost two years out now, and that miserable newly post-op stage feels like a lifetime ago -- just a tiny blip on my journey to losing 200 pounds. Hang in there!

When I had lapband before, I didn't drink soda for like 3 months. It was my cousins wedding and I had a Shirley temple. It did make me feel tight with the band. I obviously know that the only way to stop drinking soda is to not buy it. My brother drinks it and he's not really overweight. (I live with family) but we also have diet sprite. Only my mom, me, and my brother really drink soda. Since they're not in need of losing weight, then I don't want to take it away from them, eventhough, we should all stop drinking it. So, there's that, I want to avoid it if I can. When I was on weight watchers, I didn't drink soda as much. I do have some crystal light packets and the strawberry lemonade ones are good. I know when I had the lapband, we could have diet iced tea and the diet gatorade.. if I can I really want to cut as much sugar as I can. I seriously want to do this right. It's annoying that people think ill still fail. I like yogurts and I find those to ne sweet enough. I eat the chobani Greek yogurts or dannon Greek yogurt. Shockingly I do like a lot of sugar free stuff. I will have to check those recipes out

Dumping is pretty rare in sleeve patients. It’s more likely you’ve been advised to avoid sugar to break any addiction to sugar you may have - break your cravings for sweet. I didn’t have an addiction but I enjoyed dessert or something sweet at night. While losing I cut out as much sugar, sugar alternatives & artificial sweeteners as I could. Now I rarely eat traditionally sweet things. I will have some cake or dessert on special occasions like Christmas, a wedding, etc. I just control how much & how often. I get most of the glucose my body needs from other food sources like fruit, vegetables, carbs, dairy, seeds, etc. Can’t see anything wrong with you having some birthday cake especially in 5/6 months time - just not the whole cake. 😁 PS - I didn’t & still don’t have any regrets. Though in the beginning isn’t uncommon to question your decision. You’re going through a lot - a big surgery, restricted diet, pain, discomfort, low energy. Lots of changes, new things to learn, you have to avoid foods that used to comfort you, etc. Hormones are going haywire & you can be very emotional. But once you’ve healed & recovered, are feeling more confident & comfortable about what you’re doing & you see how much weight you are losing, the regrets or concerns disappear.

Yeah it was tight! But the clothing thing is such a mind freak honestly. I am still wearing some of my old size 20 jeans but I also can buy jeans in non plus sizes too. Like I bought a regular 16 at h and m. I bpught a size 34 pair of jeans at buckle thinking itd be sooo tight and something to shrink into, but no it fits well. I don't understand it at all. I think part of it is loose skin. Like loose skin fits in bigger clothes but it can also be completely squished down in smaller sized clothing. I don't know. Women's sizing is not the best way to indicate weight loss although I've loved getting rid of all my tent sized shirts and baggy jeans. Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

Haha yeah. I watched too much of my 600 lb life prior and was just expecting a weight loss goal XD but yeah, I was in counseling prior but definitely wanted me to put the pedal to the metal on my mental health and get a whole treatment team on board. I'm glad I did. It really helped. I think if your surgeon cares about you and you have a mental health diagnosis like bpd or bipolar you'll just need to show you're putting some work in to achieve some stability and learn appropriate coping mechanisms. Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

Yeah, it depends on your insurance probably and the program but in my experience most programs just want to see that you're stable. I have bipolar disorder and when I went in for my initial consultation I was shocked the doctor did not give me a weight loss goal. He instead wanted me to go through 4 months of counseling with a psychologist and stay consistent on my mood stabilizers, then pass a Psych eval. Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

What you are experiencing is very common. You’ve been going through a lot. The surgery, the change in your diet, pain & discomfort. So much new information & things to learn. Perfectly understandable that you’re questioning if it will be worth it. Plus your hormones are all over the place making you more emotional. It just takes time. Time to heal & recover. Time for your hormones to settle. Time to become familiar & more confident about the changes to your eating, etc. Take as much time as you need. One day you’ll realise you are feeling a lot better, stronger & confident about everything. Your weight will be decreasing. And you’ll realise yes, it was worth it. All the best.

With a sleeve, you really don't need anything overly special, as we don't have the malabsorption of certain nutrients that you get with the malabsorbing procedures like the RNY or DS; we mostly have to make up for the poor diet that we have during weight loss when we are concentrating on protein at the expense of the fruits, veggies, grains and legumes that typically flesh out our nutritional profile, so a good quality general multi if usually fine. To that we add some calcium and iron as needed (since they need to be take apart from each other) and whatever else we individually may need. With a sleeve, we generally don't need extra B12 (that's more of an RNY thing) but some programs specify it out of convenience, as many just use the same recommendations for their sleeve patients as tehy use for their RNY patients, and then make adjustments later on as labs indicate. Personally, I just use a generic Centrum from Costco, add one or two doses of Calcium citrate depending upon my other intake (I shoot for 1500-2000mg per day from diet and supplement) plus vit D3, K2 and magnesium citrate (al part of the osteo complex) as I have some history with osteopenia. Overall, the bariatric vits (or double multi vit as some programs recommend instead) are largely overkill for us, but it's generally better to start high and then whittle things down as labs indicate and diet stabilizes.

Just checking in again. 7 months for me today. Total loss of 95lbs - 25 pre-op and 70 (5st) in the 7 months since surgery. Brain is still trying to catch up with body, LOL. BMI is 26.7 and weight 181lbs. All good, sticking to the plan pretty much the same as the last few months. Bad diet day today for some reason, culminating in white bread toast for supper (now sitting in my stomach like a ball of lead). Hoping to lose a bit more before commencing maintenance - 21lbs actually, so need to stop with the toast crap!

I haven't had surgery yet, but I feel like it'll be a shock for me too. When I did group personal training, I'd get a odd rush from the trainer being like "oh you can lift heavier" (heavier than the other women in my group) and high fiveing me after graduating to a higher weight each week. I know it'll definitely be a test of patience till I'm cleared for heavy stuff.