Search the Community

Really sorry to hear you're having issues with regain. Hopefully the surgeon gave you some helpful information! I just had my revision on the 10th of February, so I can't quite say too much on whether or not its more successful the second time around, but I can tell you the expectations that I received from my surgeon! I was told that it is in fact slower the second time around, but this is okay because that means the weight loss should be steady and you're more likely to keep it off. Additionally, he told me that you'll lose about 10-15 percent less than what you lost the first time around. If you're smaller, the weight loss will be slower since you're closer to a healthier BMI than someone who is way over. Another thing that plays a part is the length of the limbs of the bypass (assuming thats what you revise to and not a re-sleeve). I believe that the longer the limbs, the more weight you lose. As for me, I had the sleeve then revised to the gastric bypass and its a little different, ngl. Instead of feeling full from tightness like I got with my sleeve, I get the hiccups which is funny but annoying as well since they hurt since im so early out. I'm not hungry at. all. Like, its a little concerning. Hahaha! But I did not get this sensation with my sleeve. I was hungry right out of surgery. Recovering was an absolute breeze. Within a few days, I was walking around like nothing happened. So far, the weight loss is moving at the same pace as it was with my sleeve, so I'm happy about that. Since surgery, I've lost 7kg. Surgery day, I started at 116kg (255lbs) and am now at 109 (240). Hope this info was at least a little helpful!

I never lost feeling hungry. But very little filled me up. Like a teaspoon of minced chicken salad every two hours, once I got to semi solid . Even now, 12 years out, I can eat a very small baked chicken thigh and a couple ounces of sweet potato, and 1/3 c of applesauce for dinner and i am soo done. What I realized when I gained back some weight, was that I NEVER learned in my entire life how to maintain my weight - I was always either losing weight or gaining it. BAM ! total mind blowing experience. So I started losing the weight I had put on, and after 10 pounds gone; I purposely stopped losing weight even though I wanted to lose 30 more pounds. And I maintained that 10 pound weight loss. I ate more, I ate higher calories. I found out what I needed to eat/how much I needed to move to stay at THAT weight. MIND blown. After a couple months, I purposely. With INTENT lost another 10 pounds. Slowly. Then stopped again. 2 months at that weight. And so on. Then I got to the down 40 pounds which was my goal. I stayed with in 5 pounds of that weight for a YEAR !!! A few months back, I decided to do 5 more pounds. That was harder. But I did it. And another 5 pounds. Right now I am a pounds under that, and pretty happy. Might do another 3 pounds but very slowly and carefully because at 67 years old I haven't weighed this since the 1970's !!! And I am loving it, I eat well. I have some dietary limitations and eat low fiber and low residue as a medical necessity. Darn. But I had to figure out what would work for ME. Took me most of a lifetime. But so glad.

3 years ago I had a RNY bypass, lost 126 lbs. I’m down to a size 8 some 6’s but I’ve always liked my clothes loose. I’m still trying to get use to the changes to my body, and I’m wondering what others have done to better these problem areas. Mine is my neck, I now have all this extra skin that hangs like a Turkey waddle and I’m very conscious of it. When the pandemic was happening and we had to wear masks I could hide it with the mask. Now that the pandemic is pretty much under control tho I feel like that’s what people look at when they look at me. Please help me, get rid of this, is there exercises that will get rid of it? I’ve been using collagen and retinol creams and putting collagen in my soups even. Plastic surgery is my last resort if there even is a surgery to remove neck skin. My other problem area is my arms - bat wings, I’ve been lifting 10 lb weights doing various exercises and I do see some change but not enough that completely satisfy me, again I use my lotions and take my collagen but could use some suggestions from someone that might have had the same issues and let me know what they did. Thank you😀

Yes I will definitely have to ask because mine just says protein supplement but it says clear liquids for 10 days post op. Thank you all for the help!!

With the preface this probably most likely to appeal to the millennials in the group based on song selection I wanted to share a workout playlist that’s been pushing me to excel in my workouts. It’s been great for 45 minutes medium high - high intensity cardio followed by 5-10 low to medium intensity and 5-10 cool down and stretch. I’d love to hear about the playlists that push your fitness forward.

P.S. I don't think gaining all your weight back is that common, but it DOES happen if people aren't careful. A majority of us do have that 10-20 lb rebound in year 2 or 3, though. And I've known a few people who've gained 40, 50, or 60 lbs (due to old habits). It's easy to do if you don't watch it.

you can gain weight with any and all types of weight loss surgeries if you let old bad habits creep back in. Weight loss surgeries are just a tool, and you have to keep up with your part of it for it to work. And they work extremely well as long as you follow the rules. a rebound weight gain of 10-20 lbs during year 2 or 3 is VERY common. That's more your body settling in to a weight it's comfortable at. If you're diligent, you'll stabilize there - or you may even lose some or all of the rebound if you work at it. But when old habits start up again, you can definitely gain weight again - sometimes a lot of it. And sometimes all of it. what WLS mainly does is control how much you can eat AT ONE SITTING. This is an example I've used a lot: Before I had surgery, when my husband and I ordered a pizza (always a large...), we'd each eat half of it. I can't do that anymore. I can eat 1-2 pieces. It's physically painful for me if I try to eat more than that. But it would be very easy to eat 1-2 pieces at 5:00 pm, and another 1-2 pieces at 8:00 pm, and yet another 1-2 pieces before bed. So....half a large pizza. THAT is the kind of stuff you have to watch out for - that, and mindless snacking (planned snacks are fine - but mindless snacking has consequences...). so to respond to your question about whether or not maintaining after two years is difficult, yes, it is. I constantly watch what I eat. If I notice the number on the scale starting to head north - esp if it gets above my "oh crap" number (the number I do NOT want to ever go over again), it's all hands on deck until it's back under control. So yes. Obesity is a very complex, chronic condition, and we do have to keep working at it to keep the weight from coming back. But the surgery DOES make that easier. There is no way I could have ever lost over 200 lbs and maintained that loss for several years (well, mostly - I did have a rebound) without this surgery.

Hello, Crazy, I just got the call from the doctor. My insurance was approved, and I am scheduled for surgery March 23rd. Tampa, FL My first Consult was on 12/19/2022. 2nd Appointment 1/19/2023 3rd Appointment 2/19/2023 Surgery is Scheduled for 3/23/2023. This process was SUPER QUICK!

My WLS was 08/2019, my PS was 01/21. I paid $16,000 for all 3 procedures. I flew from Seattle to Miami because the cost was less than half. Prices vary wildly around the country!

I started off the same way! And my medical problems got in the way and I've gained 10 pounds back 😭 However I'm still waiting for surgery. But I don't have much of a taste for meat either! I'm gonna have to try those dinners though. You're welcome to message if you'd like to chat!

ZERO regrets!!! Best thing I ever did (besides WLS). I look better now than I did in my 20s. It's an amazing feeling! I did TT and Breast Lift w/ implants. My WLS was 12/2019, and my plastic surgery was 1/2021. Thinking about going back for an arm lift next!

I feel like I'm losing my mind. I am 6 days post-op sleeve and haven't had this much energy in YEARS. Is this all nerves or residual excitement for this life change? I'm (of course) still on full liquids for at least another week. I want to start walking more but am worried about feeling hungry if I do too much before I'm eating again. Don't get me wrong, I'm up and walking around, and trying to keep busy for at least 10 minutes every hour, but tomorrow I'm back to work at a sedentary job. I have my first post-op appointment in 2 days, and another 6 days after that until I see my dietician again. Hopefully I'll get to move on to pureed food stage next week.

Hi Krasavitza, Im on day 13 of 14 on a liquid diet. I went with the milk and yogurt diet. I had also the option of 2 shakes and 300cal meal with extra veg. But the first was easier to go with. Day 3 is hardest, but after that it gets so much easier. Spoke to my bariatric nurse on friday and she said as Id lost 20lb in 10 days to swap out some of my yogurts and add a 300cal dinner. So if after a week you are still struggling speak to your nurse to see what options you have or swap outs you can do. Good luck, you’ve got this [emoji1303] Sent from my SM-A528B using BariatricPal mobile app

At 10 weeks I was still on purees and was eating a lot of soft scrambled eggs, greek yogurt, refried beans and various soups.

I’m 10 weeks post gastric bypass surgery. Can’t really eat anything- weight loss is slow infact some days scales go up!! I’m exercising daily. What should I be attempting to put in my mouth???

Surgery 2/10. First 24 hours was pretty rough with the gas but lots of laps in the hospital helped. During the two week postop diet, I was struggling with fluids and protein because I was just so over it. I’m not stressing about it. I just do what I can. I’m now 16 days postop and it’s easier to get my fluids in but I’m still so sick of protein shakes. I found Oikos Greek yogurt with 15 grams of protein. The vanilla flavor is amazing…. Yum! I’m on puréed diet for the past three days, threw up twice just eating too fast because I was starving. But now I have adjusted to eating more slowly so I don’t throw up. The only issue I have is the bariatric vitamins. I’ve been taking the chewable ones and they are absolutely awful and they make me vomit. I’ve taken them on a full stomach too, and they still make me sick. I’m trying to find a good vitamin to take that doesn’t upset my stomach. I just ordered the Barimelts which I know are not recommended by my doctor, but they are known to be gentler on the stomach, so something is better than nothing. I have the calcium chews and those are fine. Does anyone have a good vitamin that they like it doesn’t make them sick? Also, I’m down 18 pounds and I’m fine with that as I am a lower BMI.

Hey y'all! Glad to see some updates around here. It's been 4 months and some change, and I've lost 70 lbs since surgery! Almost 125 since my highest weight. I feel better than I have in years. I started off as a 5XL and now can wear 3XL and even some 2XL! Went from a 30 in jeans to 24 (which are loose on me, so I think I may be 22 or lower now - I still need to update wardrobe) I had a stall in mid-December and just recently had another that lasted 10 days where my weight only went up and down or stayed the same! Finally started trending downwards again a few days ago. My pouch tolerates everything I've given it. No problems there. I eat whatever I want at this point but still do 1 protein shake/day. I'm hovering around 800-1000 calories per day. Pros: I used to get horrible pains in my lower back and hips and now I have a ton of stamina and can actually walk around a grocery store to go shopping! Sex is a lot more fun! ☺️😆 I can feel my bones. Especially when I sleep on my side at night, my kneecaps actually touch each other (can also be a con lol) I can cross my legs! I can sit on the floor and not feel like I'm going to fall over backwards! It's fun to jiggle parts of my body 🤣 Physical hunger still gone and full cues still intact. I know to stop when the hiccups start. Food bills are so much cheaper!!! I'm content with a happy meal. No heartburn (yet)! Cons: My mood is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Hormones from fat loss make me up and down all the time. I never know what kind of day it's going to be when I wake up. I also have a mood disorder to begin with, so that doesn't help either. Loose skin everywhere!! If I'm too "active" it will make a clapping noise. Like it's cheering me on. 😂 I'm a bit self-conscious about the skin under my neck The rest of it I can deal with, lol. My boobs and butt are leaving. Mental hunger is rude! I have to carefully watch myself from grazing. Some days are harder than others. I think my food addiction has turned into a shopping one. I'm still lazy and don't really work out. I do a lot more than I used to though, so it balances out I think. 😅 Food isn't fun anymore. But that's also a good thing... I can say it has been way easier than I expected it to be though. I thought I'd be more upset about it. Here's some before/after pics! They're from last month, but I don't think I've lost much more 10 lbs since then anyway due to the stall I had. This one was right before the liquid diet and the after is the end of January, so about 75 lbs difference. This was on my way to my first appointment in early 2022 and then last month. I've lost 105 lbs between those 2. This is a fun graph of my weight loss since the beginning of the liquid diet. I weigh myself everyday using this app (Libra) so I can see the trends. Then I only record my actual weight every week in MyFitnessPal. It's worked well for me so far. My current goal is to hit 100 lbs lost before my 6-month surgiversary! 30 lbs to go!

Hi! I am about 10 days postop from having the sleeve, and as a lot of people, I am having trouble getting all of my meals in. I was wondering if anybody had any tips such as setting a timer to remind you to have a meal, and if you did set a timer, how often did you set it for?

I had a Gastric sleeve 10 days ago and went to urgent care today they said low blood pressure and dehydration. They recommend 64 oz of Pedialyte a day. So I went home and sipped on pediLyte and got 33 oz down in 4 hours is this bad? I didn't feel full or nauseous or pain. Trying to stay out of hospital. Sent from my SM-S908U using BariatricPal mobile app

I can only have one small meal per day of 3oz protein, unlimited non starchy veggies, 1/4cup starch. The rest of the day is liquids and non-starchy veggies. Day 10, all liquid.

Made zucchini noodle bolognese last night. Mixed the noodles in with the bolognese & added a tin of lentils too. Ended up with what looks like enough for 10 meals 😁 so froze several single serves. This is supposed to be a one cup ladle full but I heaped it a bit & then couldn't eat it all.

I don’t understand why your doctor wants you to speak to your dietician about your low iron levels except to maybe review your current diet & see if something is missing or there is something extra you could add. Has your doctor has you to arrange an appointment to discuss your results & prescribe or recommend an additional supplement or an infusion if needed??? Unless your level isn’t that low & dietary changes should be enough??? 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ve heard it can take some time for your iron levels to go up again too. Low iron levels seems to becoming more common these days for all women not just bariatric patients. I have several friends (none have had surgery) who need to take iron supplements or have transfusions because of low iron levels. Never knew one 10 years ago. PS - I have a protein absorption issue thanks to my gall removal. Not related to my sleeve. (Also stopped me absorbing my HRT meds - God bless the patch.)

I agree. I am 9 months PO, and had you told me that I would be able to reach the weight I currently am, I would not have believed you. I didn't set a firm goal at the beginning, because I had no idea where I "should" end up. I did some math with weights around the top of the "normal" BMI numbers for my height, to see what the percentages were so I could have some idea of my progress at 3 and 6 months. Then I ended up dropping weight faster than predicted. The only time I had an actual number in mind was after my 6 month appointment when the APRN told me what they had written down as my "ideal weight" in the computer. It messed with my head some, because I couldn't ever remember weighing that little, so when I got into the range with the same number in the tens place, I was psyching myself out. I had to work to get over that. I still don't believe the number on my jeans (6 - I had to buy new ones because my saved clothes only went down to 10). It's insane to me that I can wear size small t-shirts. I can feel bones in all kinds of places that I never did before. I am still slowly losing, letting my body decide what it wants to do, but my brain is still catching up with what I see in the mirror. I also agree with wearing things you have saved as soon as they fit and as often as possible. Sizes can go by quickly sometimes. Sent from my Pixel 4a using BariatricPal mobile app

If I could give it less stars I would. I had surgery at OCC in Mexico over ten years ago (lap band) and the surgery center was state of the art, clean and everyone spoke english. The care was impeccable. This time, after reading many positive reviews, I chose Mexico Bariatric Ctr. Unfortunately, my experience there was the opposite. They were extremely fraudulent in their advertising and the entire was nothing less than DANGEROUS! Here is a list of things that were fraudulent: 1. Only one nurse out of about 20 spoke English. When I asked for jello, they brought me a pillow. They did not know how to use translators on their phone. When I began having complications this is where things could have gone very wrong. I'll explain more later. 2. The conditions of the hospital (pictures below). There was no hot water in our bathroom. The shower was full of thick green mold. The shower doors were broken off and unusable. The floor drain is held by duct tape. The mirror fell off the wall and sat on the floor. We had no handsoap (luckily I brought sanitizer to Mexico with me). The air conditioner was BROKEN. It was so hot they opened the window for us for our entire stay. Unfortunately there is ALOT of construction and traffic noise 24 hrs p/day so sleep was impossible. The trash was overflowing and never changed over a 4 day stay. Needles, bloody bandages were on the floor. The hospital building is dilapidated and should be condemned. Many patients were told that MBC is moving to a new building in April, but when I asked the administrators they said maybe next year and they have no building chosen yet. Ice was made into chips by the pulling a bag out of the freezer and smashing it with a metal weight (like for fishing) for each cup ...this went on outside our room 24 hrs per day. They picked it up with their bare hands, off of a counter that was not wiped clean first, and put it in a cup for you. 3. My doctor never met me before or after surgery until I finally told a specialist doctor and she reached out to him. The anesthesiologist also did not speak to me before surgery. 4. The toilets in the waiting area were dirtier than most gas station bathrooms. The one in our room was about the same. 5. When we requested pain meds the first 24 hours after surgery the nurse stated it was only allowed every 12 hours and we had to request them. On the third day when a specialist had to come see me, we learned that they were written for every 6 hours WITHOUT request necessary. Both my roommate and I were in excruciating pain the first 24 hours and only got two doses of pain meds rather than four. 6. DANGEROUSLY LOW OXYGEN LEVEL. I let them know ahead of time that I brought my cpap and sometimes have difficulties with oxygen exchange after anesthesia. Right after surgery my oxygen level dropped to 80 (normal is 95-100). They gave me a canula (hose that goes under your nose to administer oxygen) but it wasn't giving me enough. So they gave me a full mask. But when night time came and I needed to use a cpap they told me to not use my cpap, but for me that is super dangerous so then they said stop using oxygen....my level dropped to 78! Organ damage can begin at that low of a level. The nurse stated I didn't need oxygen anymore (luckily this was the nurse who spoke english). I asked for a doctor and the specialist came in. They did not have any idea what to do for me. So I decided to wear the canula under my cpap mask. Karla (administrator for MBC came by and said "Don't worry about the canula, the water in your cpap will mix with the air and make oxygen". Ok, first of all Karla is not a medical professional, not a nurse and clearly had no idea what she was talking about and luckily I knew enough not to listen to her. My oxygen level did straighten out the next day thank goodness. 7. I came home with two of my incisions infected. They were red and swollen in about a 3" radius each. Two weeks of doxycycline before they cleared up. Nothing was sterile at this hospital. Nurses did not wear gloves for wound care but when you ask them to, they CANNOT UNDERSTAND YOU! With all that they charge it seems they could buy an ice machine for sterile ice chips, a/c that works etc. Even our toilet seat was broken and you had to be super careful how you sat on it. It doesn't appear that ANY MONEY goes into the hospital. 8. I was charged 450$ in extra fees that they refuse to explain what they are for. You must pay before they will take you to the border. 9. I was overcharged, their receipt shows a $300 overpayment but they won't send it for 12 weeks! 10. I called to speak with Mr. Ron Elli in San Diego who is the director. He refused to speak to me, hear my complaints or respond in any way. I am now 5 weeks post op. I understand that there are quite a few good reviews, but in reviewing them upon my return home I realized they are from 2019 and 2020. Perhaps the hospital was in better shape then, I don't know. Useful Funny Cool

I am 10 days post opp now! I couldn’t twist to wipe either and the pain landed me back in the ER. But I also was not taking my pain meds around the clock as advised. Summerseeker, didn’t you get any pain meds?