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Me too! Exactly Word for Word. I’ve had severe Gerd, esophageal spasms, large hiatal hernia, and food acid reflux at night despite being on some sort of anti-acid/PPI since I was 20. Being overweight I did not qualify for the fundilplication which was the standard surgical procedure. I work at Mayo and when they suggested the gastric bypass I really was not interested. It took me 7 Months to finally make the decision and get it done. The reflux is gone, and the weight loss is a win-win. My surgery was 2/24/2021

I'm 9 months out from VSG, saw the bariatric clinic follow up staff, and am so GRR now. I never had that "I'm never hungry" feeling once I recovered from the surgery but shrugged it off. I could drink 2 oz. fluids at once literally the day of surgery so I was like... OK, cool. Weight loss was slow despite being diet compliant and exercising, stopped at 25 pounds after 3 months, then gained 10 back after a foot injury (off again since getting back to my daily 5k jog). I've been having reflux for ages despite avoiding trigger foods/drinks and I get hiccups 20+ times a day regardless of how I'm eating, drinking, or not doing either. So they referred me back to the surgeon's office. Last week I had an upper GI study. The radiology report says I have mild decreased lower esophageal motility and mild outpouching at the fundus... um, I shouldn't HAVE a fundus after gastric sleeve. The weakened esophageal muscles explains the fluid that backs up when I drink sometimes, especially if not sitting straight up or standing, and the chest lock I feel when eating dryer foods or meats. I'm confused about the fundus. Is the radiologist mistaken and unfamiliar with VSG anatomy? Did the surgeon leave part of my fundus? The surgeon's office is awful at communicating so I'm in limbo. They didn't even call me before ordering the upper GI, they just had the radiology department call to schedule me without notice. All I can think about is where I go from here. Meds for the reflux and live with the hiccups? Revision surgery for the reflux and basically start over (the big GRR)? Anyone else have anything similar like a retained fundus, outpouching, or GERD with esophageal motility disorders like weakened muscles after VSG surgery?

Your hair cut is lovely @Lynda486 I’m jealous. I’d love to have those gorgeous waves of yours. I have to sleep in plaits or twists like Ms.SSS did to get any kinks in mine. Sigh. Lookin’ hot @JMJames92. Spent two days Mother of the Bride dress shopping with a a girlfriend whose daughter is getting married in about 8 weeks. (The wedding was postponed from September last year - thanks COVID.) Oh my God. So difficult to find something that’s not boringly conservative or too young, shirt or revealing that still has a soft beach’s vibe. It’s a beach wedding on a island resort of the coast of Queensland. Think @MarvelGirl25 is on to the right idea with eloping. I haven’t offered to go shoe shopping with my friend though I did find some pretty sandals with brushed gold & silver straps with a touch of fuschia online that might work with the dress. We ended up choosing this dress. I think we did pretty well.

Yep, when I was younger and thinner I had a non-issue neck. Then I gained weight and I suppose any aging/slackening of the skin in that area was camouflaged by the excess fat. Fast forward to after weight loss and my neck was actually the first thing (after an arm lift) that I realllllllyyyyyy wanted to get done. Didn't end up getting it done as it didn't bother me as much after a while, but now I think it looks odd. Its not so very flappy nor droopy (but it is definitely NOT firm), and I have these weird vertical lines of skin that makes it look like I have a giant hole in my neck (see 1st pic below), and it gets more prominent when I'm smiling. Weird. Depending on your age/genes/amount of weight lost, the degree of sag will vary. You won't really know how your neck will fare until you get to your desired weight. Of course there is always face/neck lifts. I've also recently read that botox is injectable into the neck muscles (I didn't know this!) that results in a firming look. Will be asking about this at my consult next week. See second pic below of a before/after pic I lifted from a random site. So there is hope...(I hope!) P.S. I'm 50 this year.

Thanks, Just knowing it gets better means there is light ahead ... I was just so tired of protein drinks and soft puréed food I wanted to use my teeth again!, but my weight loss has been great

Thank you so much Christina! That was very encouraging and gives me confirmation I’m stepping in the right direction. Same here, my PCP is great, but she herself has said she struggles with weight and tries every on/off label medication out there for weight loss. So a nutritionist definitely makes me feel more comfortable. My nutritionist will also be bariatric oriented. I’m so happy to hear your success! Thanks again for your support 😊

I’ve lost 175 pounds and my face definitely looks different, but I think much better. I was a little concerned about looking older because I have seen some info saying that massive weight loss makes you look older, but honestly, that was among the least of my concerns. I think I lucked out in the chin department — I had big-time double-chin at my highest weight, and I can see some slight sagging now, but not nearly as bad as I feared. And I am almost 40, so it was probably going to happen soon, anyway. It is weird to me to see my face in the mirror because I feel like I don’t look like myself. My face used to be so big and round, and now it is so angular because my jawline is so prominent. And when I smile, I have dimples that I didn’t used to have. It’s hard to say if that makes me look older, or just different. I’ve always had dark circles under my eyes (even as a kid), and they’ve gotten worse since surgery, but that might be temporary. I don’t have a ton of sagging skin or wrinkles on my face, though (my body is a different story...).

Ooooo hair edition 🤩 such a cute classic 90’s style

I've seen a lot of articles and YouTube videos about eating at restaurants after weight loss surgery. I would suggest googling something like "restaurants after weight loss surgery" for tips. Something to keep in mind, though, is that most of these articles are about going out to eat on rare occasions, not eating all of your meals from restaurants. It's hard to lose weight if you're always eating at restaurants because (1) you don't really know what's in the food, so you can't track your intake accurately, and (2) the food is loaded with extra fat and sugar. In terms of tracking your intake, chain restaurants are probably easier because you can find the nutrition information online, and the food is usually pre-packaged and just heated up at the restaurant, so they're probably not adding a bunch of extra butter or anything. You can also find a lot of articles about the healthiest foods at various chain restaurants. Salads with grilled meat are usually a safe bet, but you have to watch the dressing. Always get dressing on the side, and maybe use your own light dressing instead. Trader Joe's has some amazing super-low-calorie dressings (green goddess and spicy cashew). A sandwich without the bun is another option (some places will even make you a lettuce wrap instead of a sandwich). A lot of restaurants have dishes that are basically meat plus sides, and you can order veggies as the sides. Just watch out for the sauces (ask for sauces on the side to be safe). Regarding portion size, why can't you take a measuring cup with you to a restaurant? It doesn't necessarily have to be a measuring cup, but you can carry a 4-ounce plastic container with a lid in your purse and use it to measure half a cup. Of course, once you get some practice, you will probably be able to eyeball the correct portion size pretty well. A lot of people recommend asking for a box when you get your meal and putting some of the food in the box to bring home so you don't over-eat (I've seen this recommended just for general dieting purposes, not just for WLS patients). You could measure out a potion to leave on your plate and put the rest in the box. Yeah, it might look weird, but I guarantee you won't be the first person who does that. Finally, when you say you don't cook, are you open to heating up prepared foods? Like frozen meals? Unfortunately, most frozen meals aren't very bariatric-friendly because they usually have rice and pasta, but there are some decent ones with cauliflower rice or just meat and veggies, or they have the rice in a separate compartment so you can leave it out. How about semi-homemade? It's not difficult to heat up some frozen veggies and pre-packaged meat. One of my go-to meals consists of frozen cauliflower rice + canned black beans + salsa from a jar + chicken + shredded cheese (I usually make my own taco meat chicken in the Instant Pot, but frozen grilled chicken works, too). It only takes a couple of minutes to throw all that stuff in a bowl and stick it in the microwave. Another easy option is bagged salad mix + meat + light dressing from a bottle. I'm 7 months post-op and I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten restaurant food since my surgery. I've found that I don't really enjoy it anymore because I can't eat the foods that I used to order at restaurants, I can only eat tiny portions, and it seems like a waste to spend so much money on a restaurant meal when it's pretty much the same as what I would make for myself at home.

Lopping off inches of hair can be quite traumatic, no? This style flatters your face shape and makes you neck look long...plus it puts your fab clavicles on display! P.S. If you tell me your hair is naturally that curly I will cry self-centred tears.

I also cut my hair off on my sons birthday, just needed a change to get me through it. I took 7 inches off. It looks much better now that I learned to style it.

I'm having the same problems, iron, hair, etc etc, I've had 4 blood transfusions and still need to go for another one soon

@ms.sss Oh I didn't know we were doing hair now! Haha. Here is my new haircut 😄

Congratulations on your surgery and I am glad things are going so well for you! During my liquid stage my favorite thing to eat was this red pepper and tomato soup that you can buy just about anywhere. It is pretty thick so I always watered it down to be on the safe side. I would say it was about 50/50 water and soup. As for pureed recipes...the absolute best thing for this stage (in my opinion) is this vanilla egg custard. It is DELICIOUS! I basically survived on just that during my pureed stage. Well not really but I did eat it quite often in that time period...and even after I left the pureed stage. Also baby food is really easy and good - I recommend the banana! A weird one that I did when I was really craving pizza was taking low carb tortillas, about a quarter or so of one, and some pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperonis and I put them in a magic bullet blender thing (a food processor would probably work better). This created a very weirdly textured pizzaish puree that actually tasted surprisingly good. I imagine some people wouldn't be able to get past the texture/flavor combo on this one though XD. I hope some of my suggestions help you a little bit . I wish you the best of luck in your continued weight loss journey!

My insurance required a six month monitored weight loss program. I had to go to both the bariatric surgeon and see a nutritionist in that time. It helped that I also attended a weight loss support group that the nutritionist held... it took three weeks to get approved though so even if they tell you it'll take two weeks be prepared to wait about three just in case they bide their time like my own insurance company did. Congrats on the start of your journey!

Thanks! 90lbs of that weight loss was actually pre-surgery, but the rest was after I got my sleeve in June. Yeah, I have quite a bit of loose skin. It’s most problematic around my belly, but it’s present in a lot of places (arms, thighs, butt, sides). I’m not quite done losing yet, and I want to be at a stable weight for a while before I consider having surgery to remove it. I’m hoping that it gets a little better on it’s own over time, but I admit that’s probably wishful thinking. I’m pretty terrified of the recovery after plastic surgery, so I’m not in any rush to do it.

Absolutely! I’ve lost over 100lbs now and my brain can’t figure it out. I swear I don’t *feel* like I look any different than I did 50 lbs ago. But I know that’s not true. One of my friends saw me last weekend, squealed, and used the word “skinny”. And today I noticed that my leggings were getting saggy in the butt, and I know they fit perfectly well just a week ago. Judging by the scale and my baggy clothes my weight loss is completely on schedule. It’s like my brain is glitching. I’m pleased and happy with my weight loss. Now my brain needs to stop being an a**hole and catch up! 🤣🤣🤣

I have noticed a lot of people who gained weight back broke this rule. I think the rules are there to give us the optimal weight loss/ maintenance.

Life can throw some horrible curveballs at us, but well done for working so hard to get your life back on track! The surgery is a really great tool to help with weight loss and I wish you the best of luck!

My appointment scheduler called after I posted and rescheduled me because my original date was during my Surgeon’s vacation. So I’ve been moved to the 15th. But I don’t care. What’s an extra week for an issue I’ve been fighting for years. So I went ahead and did a thing....I got braces😁. I’ve looked into for about a year. I figured there are several restriction on food that coexist with WLS restrictions. Also, my mouth is so sore I have very little desire to eat period. I should have gotten these years ago. May have helped with weight loss🙂.

THANKS! That is what I wanted to hear. My wife asked me to quit going to the gym several months ago. She said you re just getting bigger, which I was. I am glad I have some dded muscle in case of loss this first few weeks. Are you taking any supplements for the gym?

I got my bypass 2/9/21 recovery was hard. I was on Jardine for my diabetes before surgery to help me lose the mandatory 15 pounds before surgery. My surgeon was unfamiliar with the medication and should have took me off atleast 3-5 days before and didn't. As a result on 2/14/21 I ended up back in the hospital with metabolic ketosis and on top of that server dehydration .. Now on soft food I'm at the infamous 3 week stall and not feeling very hopeful. I started at the smaller end of the scale so I was warned weight loss would be slower than most but I didn't expect a stall so soon. HW 238 SURGERY WEIGHT 219 CW 204

My name is Steph and I’m a 32yo junior doctor working in Australia. 5 years ago I was a highly successful intern at a major public hospital. I loved my job despite the insane hours, and I had just won the “Intern of the Year” prize as voted by my peers. I had just married my amazing partner of 10 years and we were saving to buy a house. The future looked bright- I was about to start my specialty training in General Practice (family medicine) which was the career I had always been so passionate about. Two years more training and a few scary exams to sit and then I would finally be fully qualified! But slowly, insidiously, I began to disintegrate. Bit by bit I slid into a deep and terrible depression. I tried everything- yoga, meditation, psychology, exercise, and many many medications. But in the end I became too unwell and was hospitalised, almost catatonic. Over the next two years I spent a total of 10 months in a psychiatric hospital across three admissions. Nearly 100 rounds of ECT caused me to lose huge chunks of my memory (most of which hasn’t returned unfortunately), and we tried just about every medication under the sun. We eventually found one particular medication that, when combined with an antidepressant and lithium, would keep me stable. It seemed like a miracle at first. But then I noticed the weight gain. At first I just said to myself that I’d rather be fat than dead. But 35kg extra weight later I knew I had a serious problem. We managed to re-jig my meds and I slowly weaned off that medication but the weight remains and because my other meds also promote weight gain on a lesser scale I’m now seriously struggling to lose anything. After countless diets and weight loss medications, dietitian appointments and weight loss programs I have decided it is time for something more drastic. So I am booked for a VSG on the 22nd of March and I can’t wait to have my body look more like my normal self! These days I am doing very well mentally, I’m back at work and studying for those crazy exams, and in my downtime I’m trying to make new memories with my awesome hubby who has stayed by my side through the absolute wreckage of our lives and is still my number one supporter. So stay tuned for updates as I start my pre-op diet on Monday and get started on this next phase of my journey

@DeonneG I had my gastric bypass on 2/24. I too am a revision...kinda. I was one of the first people to undergo lap band surgery in 2003. My band slipped and I had to have it removed 13years later. I think I was slightly traumatized by my band slipping and all the medical issues and hospitalizations that ensued (but that’s a story for another day). I had met my weight loss goals and was falsely confident that I could keep the weight off without any wls tools. Flash forward 5 years and too many diets to count here I am at my highest weight ever. I’d love for us to share ideas, recipes and experiences! ❤️ So far I’ve been living off of Premier Protein shakes, Unjury protein broth and crystal light. I have had no restriction and no discomfort when I eat so I was just given the go ahead to advance to non clear liquids. My doc also told me to give a soft scrambled egg a try. Last night my friend dropped off a puréed lobster bisque. I strained it and drank 1/2 cup. It was divine!!! Still no restriction, never felt full. I felt like I could’ve had 2 bowls without my new stomach speaking up but I stopped on my own. I’m starting to worry that the lack of restriction and a very crappy metabolism are going to impact my weight loss. Patience has ever been a strength of mine 😏

You are losing weight perfectly and definitely at a great pace. It definitely takes time. For the sagging skin issue, after 100lbs of weight loss I definitely notice some sagging skin but I have a lot of skin elasticity and shouldn't need plastic surgery. My wife however had skin rolls before surgery and after she is in maintenance we are already financially preparing for her plastic surgery as we know she will have lots of loose skin.