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Hello fellow April Sleevers, I met with my surgery team for my 8 month follow up appointment yesterday. Wow, can you believe it. Time has flown. I'm doing good. I'm at goal. I dont want to get any smaller. So, the past 2-3 weeks, I've been focused on maintaining versus losing any more weight. I have to kick myself in the behind a little. Water intake and strength exercises could be better. I'm still eating on plan. No cheating. The dietitian asked me about the holidays. I was like, oh please, I could care less about all that food stuff. I walk by tons of candy, pies, and cakes in the grocery store and none of it calls out to me. Food is everywhere these days. I feel blessed that I just don't have any craving or desire for foods that wont help me with my goals. As we move into a new month, December, how's everyone doing? Anyone concerned about the holidays this month? Would be great to hear from folks as we bring 2021 to a close soon.

My surgery is jut 13 days away and all of the hospitals within 150+ miles are full of COVID patients and turning away transfer patients. 88% of of those hospitalized with COVID were not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. (I am vaccinated and have received the booster.) My surgeon is reevaluating the schedule week by week.. As of today, my surgery is still on, but I recognize that it could get postponed.

Long story short: I'm in PA. I had a Lap Band placed in November 2010...then had it removed in December 2020 because of complications. I'm now getting RNY on December 20th and started my 2-week liquid diet on December 6th. In one of my pre-op requirements (upper GI), a very small hiatal hernia was observed, so we're going to get rid of him. I call him Squishy. R.I.P, my Squishy. I'm excited! Ugh, though.....I have so many clothes that are going to be enormous on me...but I also have lots of things in smaller sizes that I refused to get rid of over the years, so I guess I'll be okay. Good luck, all!

Yes, I have a few meals out lined up over the next 3 weeks and I think I'm just going to order whatever the softest starter is, to come out with everyone else's main courses. If there's soup on the menu better still. I haven't told anyone other than my partner and children about the surgery but all my family and friends are so used to me permanently 'being on a diet' so they won't turn a hair at this latest restriction to my eating. 😏 Gmast - if you had asked me in my before life to split a meal I would definitely have looked at you as if you were mad. 😍

interesting. I had peroneal nerve damage three or four years ago, and the whole lower half of my left leg was numb for about eight months. I attributed it to a sprained ankle - but maybe it was coincidence?? At any rate, the feeling eventually came back, but it took about eight months.

I was right where you are pre surgery.... Rest your mind....you are making the best decision possible for yourself. Pre Op and 3 weeks Post Op will be a challenge but you will be just fine. I am 16 weeks Post Op and down 57 lbs and my life has settled back into a predictable routine and I feel like a million bucks....you will not regret any of this and your Health will be improved 100%.

I had a sore throat for about 3 weeks Post Op.....I found that warm decaf tea helped soothe my irritation but it will go away for sure.

I am going to lose my mind. I've waited all year for surgery. Not just bariatric, but 2 additional procedures that must be done to prevent further serious problems. They have cancelled and rescheduled my surgery 3 times already. Anyone in the US knows insurance starts over (usually) on Jan. 1, and now, one week away from surgery, they just called me to let me know they may cancel me again, just 16 days from year's end. I have not been able to get a job, go on vacays, see family, or celebrate the holidays, all because I've been "on call" for this surgery. In fact, I was supposed to have a much lesser surgical procedure done elsewhere that could easily have been accomplished as far back as last summer, but this bari program doesn't commit to, and isn't accountable for, any obligations or schedule. This is ruining my entire life, and if they cancel again, I don't think I will be able to get it done. They've already charged over $40K in gross charges without one iota of actual health care to improve any medical condition whatsoever. It's all been unnecessary procedures, tests, appointments, etc. I'm wondering how other people can get health care at the drop of a hat, especially if they're in the hospital because they have not gotten a Covid vaccine, but the rest of us, who are personally paying the entire year thousands and thousands of dollars for insurance premiums and copays and coinsurance and deductibles in order to guarantee medical access, are denied. Spoiler: It's us idiots responsible enough to have insurance that are keeping the medical world afloat. I'm just waiting for the class action lawsuits to start. If this isn't discrimination, I don't know what is. In the US, we literally have governors and mayors calling the shots as opposed to medical experts. It's all political. Since when in the free world do janky politicians decide who gets care and who does not? I am utterly disgusted.

Does anyone have great advice for me on alternative protein shakes or waters, I am allergic to whey protein. I have the garden of life and orgain but I would love to find a good protein water. I am quite tired of the vanilla and chocolate too, I’d love to find a good berry one. I bought an unflavored one and it was horrible! I am 10 weeks post op and struggling to get all my protein in. Thank you!

The only one that I have been sharing meals with is my husband and he is happy to because he now calls me his cheap date (haha). As for going out with friends, I found that if I just order an appetizer then I have fewer leftovers and I can still get my own plate. I had the same situation with the weight loss, for some reason I went back and forth from 217 to 218 for a week. But finally this morning I was down to 216!

My week 1 was clears plus protein shakes. Then full liquids which included yogurts, jello, soups, thinned oatmeal, etc. It gets much easier when you on to full liquids and then puree's feels like heaven when you reach that!

Does anyone else struggle with this? If I don’t struggle with anything else I definitely struggle with this. I don’t know why even after 5 weeks I have trouble reprogramming my mind to eat slower. I never paid attention to how fast I consume food until after surgery. I mean obviously I never had a reason to before now lol. All suggestions are welcome 🤗

Am 52 and this past October I am at the three years surgiversary RNY .Yes, it can be a little of a roller coaster compared to when I was younger because of menopause and slower metabolism, but it’s doable. I find I have to cut the carbs a lot and I have stalls my lowest was 175 but i am still in the 80s . I lift a lot of weight so a few extra pounds I noticed when I start lifting weights like five pounds if I stop for a few days I noticed I weigh less . The temptation is always with certain foods once I eat them I dump or have heart burn so I don’t touch some foods but it’s a challenge and hard work nothing is easy about this journey

I am at the three week post op mark. Slowly advancing my diet. No more puréed. Now just soft foods. Thank god for grilled fish which is filling and satisfying. No weight loss in a week which I am fine with because I have reintroduced carbs and I know from the many failed Keto diets that the minute you have carbs again the weight comes back with a vengeance. I am still very full after only a few bites so I can’t eat enough protein so I am still doing a shake a day. I am down to just one of the five incisions that is still healing. The rest have closed up nicely. I am having a weird experience with friends and family. I can only eat a few bites of food and with Christmas approaching I have been going out to dinner and to parties a lot. It is such a waste of money to order a meal given restaurant portion sizes knowing that leftovers don’t qualify as soft food after they are microwaved. So instead I have been asking to split meals. I am surprised by how many people look at me like I am a monster for suggesting this. Does anyone else find that people don’t want to split a meal at a restaurant?

I am at 35 weeks weight loss from September surgery sometimes it times to change things up to see results. Focus on protein intake or exercise.

Honestly, it was rough in the beginning — constipation and really bad gas pains (nothing from the surgery). Once I got that figured out and passed the two week mark it got better every day. And when I added more foods and being able to walk a little and not being tired all the time, it’s been a blessing. Good luck to l look forward to hearing your progress! And message me if you want. 💗

I suggest getting a compression wrap for your abdomen. There are a multitude of varieties to include standard 4 inch wrap that adheres to itself. i was in pain and did require a trip to the ER a few days post op because the pain got out of control. I required about 2 weeks of pain meds and I’m on the road to recovery. In all seriousness, wrap your abdomen and it will hold everything in tight so you aren’t relying upon your abdominal muscles.

Thanks for this post, MiniGastricBypassDude! Us Omega-Loopers are a clear minority on the forum, so it's great to read a detailed post from someone further along the journey than I am. I concur with your praise of the MGB - despite a run-in with ulcers and my repeated stalls due to how little I've been able to eat (both have improved immensely now), I'm still super glad I got this procedure. Everything has resolved and it's now getting easier and easier. I can get more calories in now, so the stalling has stopped and I'm losing at a good clip. My surgeon offers Sleeve, RNY, MGB and SADI-S, but is very pro-MGB over RNY because of all you mentioned. He says it has better long-term results, though yes, our supplements are vital. I had originally wanted the Sleeve (the malabsorbtion and potential dumping had me a little wary of a bypass), but because of existing GORD, he talked me out of it and into a MGB. Glad he did, as yes, this is the right surgery for me. I'm also ETERNALLY grateful that I've never had an emotional attachment to food, or BED. I know I'm very fortunate that my head has been in a great space for this, and I feel for folks who are having a rougher time of it.

There's truth in the gherlin explanation, but it's also oversimplified so maybe gives people the wrong impression. There's multiple hormones that affect hunger. Leptin is another hormone that makes you hungry - it is made by your fat cells as they lose energy. Leptin is proportional to the number of fat cells you have, not the volume of fat. Fat cells multiply as you gain weight, but they don't die just because you lose weight - they just get smaller. A normal weight person that used to be fat will be making more leptin than a normal weight person who was never fat because the person who used to be fat has more fat cells. Leptin is part of the reason why people have a "set point," or a weight that their body likes to be at that is maintained by the body by changing your hunger and metabolism. Insulin also increases your hunger in the long term. You make insulin after you eat, while you are feeling full. But if you are constantly making a lot of it, your muscle cells get resistant to insulin and have trouble getting food even if there's plenty of food in your blood already. They will feel hungry and tell you to eat more. This is why sugar is kind of addictive to people who tend towards insulin resistance. If your body isn't getting enough protein, that will make you feel hungry too, even if you are eating enough calories. Also, there's two sets of neutrons involved in hunger - your brain is one set, but your gut also has its own neural network, and scientist understand much less about how this "gut brain" works. One of my friends is a scientist in nutrition and physiology, and a member of obesity research societies. He's the one who told me about this "gut brain" stuff. Scientists in the field don't entirely understand why WLS works. One puzzle is that they've observed that insulin resistance improves right after surgery - within a day or two people will be off their diabetes meds. They know insulin resistance improves when you lose weight and when you exercise, but they don't know why there's this fast change after WLS. Another puzzle is that they've found that a few years out, WLS patients have a higher metabolism that is closer to a person that was never fat, whereas people who lost weight through diet/exercise have a much lower metabolism than a never fat person. WLS somehow resets your "set point," but they don't know how exactly. Scientists have tried to develop drugs that change these hormones like gherlin and/or leptin. "WLS in a bottle" would be much easier than actual surgery. But none of these approaches have worked yet. That's another indication that they don't fully understand how WLS works. But it seems likely that resetting your set point is a process that occurs as you lose weight. It's not just a change that occurs instantaneously when the surgery is done. It's not just that your smaller stomach makes you feel less hungry and you can't eat as much, so you lose weight. It's that the process - losing weight while spending a lot of that time not feeling hungry because your stomach feels really full - changes what your neural networks consider to be your set point, and that in turn makes you feel less hungry without your hunger increasing and metabolism dropping in the long term. If this is how it works, that would explain why the people who stick to the diet more strictly in the beginning have more success in the long term. For instance, if you eat sugar early on, that sugar is going to increase your insulin and insulin resistance and make you feel more hungry over the next week. Even though you may be eating exactly as many calories and have exactly the same stomach size as a person who is more strict about what they eat, that process won't work as well, and your set point won't get as low.

What it’s like being a mini gastric bypass patient on BariatricPal – what I found useful, and why I needed a pause from participating on the forum I think the forum is a fantastic resource, I love the store, and I can’t imagine not having read all of you wonderful people’s stories along the way. However, you feel lonely here as an MGB’er, because it’s very America-centric and there’s just not a lot of MGB’ers in America. That’s how it is. Consider this my tiny contribution to change that. What drove me off the site is the already-discussed-ad-nauseam rigidity you meet, and I seriously urge anyone to consider if they’re posting their “I can only eat half a lentil a week, am I losing too fast?” story for themselves rather than for others. Now that I’m below goal, I can say: I had a LOT more calories than what you’d believe was necessary to be a success. And I’m still losing on 2000-2200/day. Had I gone by the consensus here, I would’ve given up a long, long time ago. And I see some of the posters who had surgery around the same time as me, who were very active, and very judgmental of me and people like me, well … they’re not posting anymore. That makes me sad. Because I know why they did that; they needed the resolve and the boost from telling others they were doing it wrong. I hope they made it and that they’re happy wherever they are in their lives. I am back to say we should be so much more forgiving, kind, and open to each other’s experiences. We have a whole world judging us and frankly, we shouldn’t put up with it. That starts with forgiving ourselves and each other, and then stick together, us former, current, and future fatties

What I wish they had told me prior to surgery I honestly had no idea how much pain I would be in right after waking up. And due to COVID-19, I wasn’t allowed anyone in the hospital to help me tell the nurses to seriously give me more morphine. I had about half an hour when I seriously wanted to kill myself due to being inflated from surgery and nowhere near covered by pain meds. Yep. It won’t feel like it, but you should get up as soon as you can. I mean that seriously. It lowered my pain from 10 to high 8 immediately. I’ve done rough contact sports, I’ve had my knee cap dislocated, torn my ACL, had a ruptured appendix, broken more bones than I care to count. And nothing compared to this. Other people have barely any pain. And you know what? I do it all again in a heartbeat. The results are that great. Otherwise, I felt pretty well-informed. I called the bariatric team when 1400 cals clearly weren’t enough, and once they heard my loss at that point, they were like ‘yeah you should’ve been on 1800 a month ago, then’. So reach out, they’re there for you. I had some stalls but expected them, talked to my close people about it, and reminded myself not to stress about it. I had a month or so of low blood sugar, but it fixed itself. I get constipated from iron supplements, so I’m actually managing without now that I can eat more (my iron increased from surgery to month 9, which is pretty neat).

Alcohol and MGB So this will be controversial for the Americans. Sorry in advance. I’ve had alcohol weekly since week 5. I made room for it in my calorie count. Sometimes, I went over. And then got right back on the counting the next day. Alcohol is a part of life where I live. And I’ve found myself wanting to go out more. I get drunk super fast, and I have to pace myself. It hasn’t really been an issue; I can see why people get addicted, but I’ve never been the kind of guy who would drink alone and that’s a hard rule for me. YMMV is what I’m saying. If you’re reading this thinking you’ll never drink again, well, a lot of us are while being successful still. Don’t you wish you had refrained from drinking and then your EWL might have been 95 instead of 89? Absolutely not. I wouldn’t have gotten to a year by staying in. I did this my way, and it worked for me.

Exercise – what and when and how much? I was told to exercise at least 4 times a week for 30 minutes, and then incorporate walking on top of that. In reality, I haven’t done that much, but I’ve done some. I think that works for me – I was always so either/or, and I’m trying to live in the middle now. I walked maybe 3 times a week in the first 3 months. Then, at around 260 lbs, I gave running a go. I hate running. There, I said it. So I did interval running. Basically week 1 and later on, 2, of Couch-2-5K. Gave it my best for a minute, walked two. Rinse and repeat. For a grand total for 20-25 minutes. Did this twice a week for a couple of months. And didn’t increase the running time much, just increased speed in the intervals. Did I mention I hate running? That’s why. If I know it’s going to be unsustainable, I’m finding something that is. And that was the gym. I like going. I don’t go all that much, maybe 1.5 times a week on average. I took up boxing once a week, but sometimes other things get in the way. Then I go the next week. Again, not all or nothing, just getting by. I bike to work now, except when it rains. It’s not a long journey by any means, but it counts. And so on and so forth. Not once have I beat myself over the head, and that kept me moving. That said, I’ve been ecstatic about seeing what my body can do. I just walked home from work, 20 minutes brisk walk. Didn’t break a sweat. Didn’t consider what other people might think of the fat guy walking there because, well, I’m not fat. I’m free.

My diet and calories – stages + what does a typical day look like after a year? My post-op plan was pretty standard: 1 week of fluids 1 week of puréed 1 week of soft solids and then gradually into solids. It was easy, but I had reached out for help prior to surgery and had family take care of me. I could’ve done it on my own, but I do recommend letting all pride go and simply take as much time off work as you can, ask for all and any help you can from the people around you. You have no idea how willing people are to help. That first month is so crucial to get off to a great start – it’s a long journey – and we deserve it. I had alcohol less than a month after surgery (for NYE) and it was fine. It was OK’ed with my surgeon’s team. I understand this is different for different cultures, but alcohol is a major part of life where I live, and I am done doing unsustainable things. So I had to practice flexible control right off the bat. It works well for me. For me, tracking calories and protein has been crucial I was on: 1400 cals/day for 6 months, then 1800 cals a day for 3 months and then the bariatric team asked me to stop losing and find my balance. Since then, I’ve lost 7-8 lbs as I’m finding my equilibrium. I stopped tracking on weekends, and I still track on weekdays. It’s good to keep that sense of what 2000-2200 calories look like, but it’s also a more long-term sustainable solution for me to not sit at a restaurant and think about whether I go 50 over or under on a Friday. This gets into the mental game, and I’ll cover that below. A typical day now looks like this: Breakfast Protein Oatmeal (around 200 cals) Lunch Meat + mixed salad + a little dressing at work. Small plate. Early afternoon A protein snack, like Quest Protein Chips. Late afternoon Usually some fruit, a slice of protein bread with low-fat cheese. Dinner I’ve grown fond of Thai curries with chicken + cauliflower rice. I truly have no desire for, say, burgers and pizza – it’s too heavy for my system. I repeat: it’s not that I can’t have it, I just don’t really want to. New times indeed. Evening snack(s) I tend to leave 400-600 calories for after dinner (which is easier on 2200 calories, mind you). I unfortunately work a bunch, and this has been the problem in the past – working and snacking all night long. I spend those calories on a smoothie with protein and fruit, and usually a bariatric-friendly treat like sugar-free chocolate, popsicles, or something like that. This keeps the habit of stuffing myself with empty calories somewhat at bay, while also not setting me up for failure by pretending I can go from 7pm to bedtime at 1am without eating. I can’t, so I don’t.

My weight journey pre-op + for a year after the mini gastric bypass I reached my highest weight – 364 lbs – fairly close to surgery. I then lost from 364 to 344 at day of surgery. In the first month, I lost 34 lbs, and at the 60 day mark, I had lost 61 lbs. So 2 months after surgery, I was down to 283 lbs. At the 6 month mark, I was down to 234 lbs (total loss 130 lbs), and at the 12 month mark I’m at 201 lbs (total loss 163 lbs). My EWL is 88.8%, and I’m of a pretty muscular build, so for all intents and purposes, I’m done losing. More importantly, I think I look fantastic! I went from a 54” waist to wearing 32” jeans, and from a 6XL to a medium or large in men’s tops. I can see the individual parts of the shoulder muscles, there’s tricep definition, my legs look like pro soccer player legs … in a way, my fat decade was a massive bulk for the fellow weight lifters out there As for excess skin, it looks like I gave birth to quintuplets a few weeks ago, and there’s loose skin everywhere. I’m only wanting surgery on the stomach area, though. I think the rest will gradually be okay, and I don’t really need to be perfect. I’m great as I am. I’ve debated whether to include photos, but what the hell. I have nothing to be ashamed of, and if this motivates just one person to go do this for themselves, I’ll be happy. DAY BEFORE SURGERY (this is 20 lbs lower than my heaviest) ... aaand: FROM THE PAST WEEK (163 lbs lighter than my heaviest, BMI around 27.5)