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I am a great yo yo dieter. So at 66 yrs old, I've finally come to the conclusion that if I want to keep my weight off I need a new approach. WLS fits the bill on that. I've scoured the internet and feel fairly informed. My doc agreed that WLS would be a good option for me. I have Kaiser insurance but I may not quite meet their qualifications. So my question is - Is there a bariatric surg. program in the Portland, Or area that will take a marginally non qualifying person? I won't have insurance so cost will be a consideration. Thank you for any info you can give me.

I think that's a great idea and something I should do. You have the hardest part over the weight will fall off!

I am still preparing for surgery and I'm on metformin not for diabetes but because it's thought to help in weight loss from certain medications. I had stopped it for a while because the mail order pharmacy got it messed up but then it got straightened out and I started again last week. I'm not hungry now but when I look up the side effects for metformin it doesn't list lack of appetite. I notice I've been a lot less hungry the whole time I've been preparing for surgery (5 months) because I've been eating high protein low carb, but the last week it's been ridiculous. Anyone else have this issue? Might not be the metformin. Might be just anxious/frustration from not getting surgery scheduled, could be just a virus.

Hey guys! I'm scheduled for VSG on June 28th. What was the average everyone was out of work? I work in a very active healthcare clinic. I know of the 4 week weight restriction of 10 pounds, but that can just been job modifications.

I agree with the above responses. The key to weight loss surgery is your complete commitment for life. You must continue the plan, keep the dr appointments And do NOT return to your previous eating habits. I am 68 y o and 2 years post-op. I feel better than I have in decades. I still eat 6 times daily. My labs are great and I still follow up with dr appts. Yes, it is a lifestyle change, but after all that is what it is all about. Prayers for your confidence and success

I LOVED potato chips before surgery and would eat a bag in one sitting. I bought my first (post-bypass) bag last week since I am trying to eat more calories as to not lose more weight (I have a lot of healthier high calorie foods too). I ate some chips. They tasted good. I had some the next day…not tasting as good. The rest of the bag is sitting on the counter and will probably get thrown out. I would rather have a big scoop of peanut butter for the extra calories 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️😬

I have found myself in the same situation. I had the gastric sleeve in 2013. My weight loss was 95 lbs. but over the past 4 years I have regained 30lbs. Now I have an 5 cm sliding hernia severe acid reflux stage 4 esophagitis. I have had 3 endoscopes to dilate the stricture. 4 biopsies if my esophagus and stomach to test for Barrets syndrome. A couple of weeks ago I met with the Bariatric Surgeon from the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona . My only option is a gastric bypass. This bypasses the acid producing part of the stomach. Sure fix …along with a hernia repair. So now I will be restarting starting this journey again with my remaing 55 lb goal. Taking nutrition and counseling through zoom. Its a bit scary but Ive walked this path before. So positive thinking! The Dr says there is enough stomach to make the pouch so it will be almost like resetting the time clock. But we all know this is all risky when messing with our bodies. If I had to reset and knowing what I know now… I think I would have gone with the bypass which is the tried and proven method of surgical weight loss.

Oh Lordy! I hope the OP found a bariatric treatment team that understands vegetarian diets. My team had an entirely vegetarian plan option and guess what some of the first foods were? Beans. Brown Rice. Oats. Potatoes. Hummus. Why? because they have a terrific metabolic index...are loaded with plant based protien...and have FIBER. (they're also much better tolerated right after surgery than meat by many folks) I'm not a vegetarian, but I like the Mayo Clinic Diet and the Mediterrainian diet....so my pre and post surgical diets were sort of a hybrid that included a lot of vegetarian influence. (I still eat meat, but I also eat a lot of beans, oats, nuts, seeds, etc) Thankfully, I had a team that did their homework on different ways up the mountain and didn't suggest keto was the only way or that carbs were the devil. Whew! So thankful for that! Cause the diet that many of ya'll describe is not something that I could have survived. I remember posting some of my sample menus...from my freaking dietician....a few weeks out and getting slammed by people here for the things (and amounts...1200 calories by end of first month) I was eating. A month out of surgery, I remember existing on refried beans with lowfat cheese and salsa....black beans with salsa and canned chicken....split pea soup....tofu chili with white beans....tofu chop suey over a small amount of brown rice....steal cut oats with dried cherries. Fruit. My clinic was absolutely fine with fruit as tolerated, but they wanted whole fruit, not just the juice. I ate a lot of baked oats with blueberries, strawberries, pecans and low calorie maple syrup. I ate 100 calorie whole grain english muffins with peanut butter. I ate boiled potatos with lowfat cheese or nonfat yogurt. ****, I poured caramel Premier Protien shake on my oatmeal and liked slurping it warm. But you know what I didn't eat? Sugar. White flour. Processed foods. Prepackaged sweet carbs. Stuff that spikes your insulin. I also didn't add animal fat like butter. Most of the stuff I ate was pretty low fat with the exception of tiny amounts of olive or grape seed or sesame oil. All of my carbs in weight loss phase were full of fiber and not processed. I ate a little fruit everyday. I added a lot of herbs, made sauces replacing sugar with splenda, I put every kind of vegetable and fruit in my kitchen in the smoothies I drank....and a glob of nonfat greek yogurt or tofu or chia seeds for protein. My clinic was activingly fighting the notion that super restricted calories and keto in the first months after surgery were necessary. They did things very differently than I hear routinely described here. I know we're all gonna have a different experience and I know for MOST of you guys....a super restricted calorie diet in the early days and keto, keto, keto, carbs are the devil....is what you were taught is the only way. And I know for most of ya'll...it's what worked and what you believe like a religion. I'm here to tell ya... There are other paths up this mountain. I'm working on being tolerant of everyone's preferred path. Anyway you get it done....you deserve serious kudos and I'm proud of you all. But I've gotta say.... it can be easy to feel defensive when post after post after post here...is so negative about what worked terrific for me and others like me. A few of us have lost weight successfully and maintained really well...on a diet that includes a buttload of (unrefined) carbs and a pretty high calorie allowance started early in the process. What's more...as a group, it appears we're having really good luck not regaining. That's no small thing. Keep an open mind about your carb eating brothers and sisters. We do ok with this whole process, too;) As always...to each their own. Peace and best wishes to all.

Sorry I can’t offer any help in regards to a revision to bypass & rheumatoid arthritis. I did find the article below about managing methotrexate side effects. (I was interested because I have a non bariatric friend who takes it for RA too.) May be worth another conversation with the bariatric surgeon in regards to the suggestion that taking folic acid can reduce side effects. Repairing your hernia may alleviate some of your reflux issues too. It’s unfortunate that while it’s helpful managing arthritic pain, methotrexate can also cause weight gain. ☹️ https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/treatment/treatment-plan/disease-management/methotrexate-managing-side-effects

In 2012 I had the gastric sleeve procedure, it was very successful until several events in my life caused me to slip back into old habits. Adding to that, my surgeon closed his practice and I had no one to follow up with locally. The old habits and lack of Followup care led to the weight slowly creeping back on. Since my sleeve procedure I’ve been diagnosed with RA which I have under control for about the past year or more. Earlier this year I began experiencing severe acid reflux and my PCP suggested I see the new BS who had just come to town. The BS advised me (after scoping me) that I have a hiatal hernia that needs to be repaired. He also recommended that I have a revision to the bypass. Fast forward three months and several pre-op tests later and I receive a call from the doctors nurse telling me that the doctor has decided it’s best not to do the conversion to bypass because I have arthritis and take methotrexate. She goes in to explain, the doctor thinks the risk of ulcers from medication and the possibility of slow healing outweigh the possible benefits. I am a 38 year old otherwise healthy female with her RA well controlled. Has anyone else experienced anything similar to this before? Has anyone had the conversion to bypass who was diagnosed with RA before their conversion? I’m incredibly frustrated and not sure what do to from this point. Any advice you can share would be much appreciated.

If you meet your protien goal, you will protect your heart. If you go to your appointments, do your tests, do your best to follow instructions, and take your vitamins as directed.... you will likely be a lot healthier than you've been in years. There is nothing more strongly linked with early death, cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.....than significant obesity. Also...some doctors don't do a "starvation diet" (which I personally agree could be metabolically terrible and probably unwise). My doctor wanted us eating 1200 calories per day as soon as possible. I did at three weeks. (6 little 200 calorie meals) I think where most of the people who have issues run into problems...is when they don't follow up. They have an unexpected gain or feel unhappy with results and don't continue to get their labs checked or do their follow up appointments. Yes, a few problems can arise as a result of these surgeries....most are very treatable. Always weigh benefits vs risk. And also consider the risk involved in doing nothing.

MyFitnessPal has a few quirks and inaccuracies (since some items in its database were contributed by regular users), but overall it’s very user friendly and helpful. I give it a lot of credit for my weight loss success.

Had surgery 25th january weight was 15 stone 5 pounds and today i’m down to 11 stone 10 pounds, over the moon. Another 24 pounds to go and il be where i want to be.

Hi, I've recently gotten through The Big Book on the Gastric Bypass, and I felt pretty secure in my decision to go through with it (my first appointment with the surgeon is July 8th). But a friend went on a diatribe, and now looking for more information. A few of the things she said: -That people who've had weight loss surgery often have health problems because of the surgery (I know problems happen, but not at which percentages, etc) -That these health problems lead to untimely death, such as heart failure from the low calorie diet, and that these deaths are not reported as being connected to the WLS, so the number of deaths from WLS appear lower than they are -That the resulting reduced calorie intake is a starvation diet, and that's what leads to things like heart problems. The Big Book on the Gastric Bypass had SOME statistics, but I felt it really could have had a lot more in the way of hard numbers. I'm wondering if anyone can point me to some data that might shed light on these points. Thank you in advance for your help.

I have heard that some people gain. It's normal. I follow this one girl on YouTube and she recommended not getting on the scale at all for the first couple of weeks and I think I might do that because I didn't lose anything for a couple of days and now I'm down 2 lb. Yes it can be disheartening.

that's what I've read as well - it's typically around a 20 lb weight loss, more or less. You don't get those massive drops like you do with a virgin surgery. I suppose there might be some people who do, but typically, no.

Congratulations on your surgery date. I went to Blossom in August 2020. They have a great program. VSG is a great tool to help with weight loss, but you have to do the work. Let me know if you have any questions.

Good question, i'm looking at revision from sleeve to bypass due to severe reflux. I'm not looking to lose much weight. 20 lb might be nice, but all in all, this will be for the GERD. I've heard it doesn't not jump start. You might lose 15 - 25 lbs but nothing significant like we did after VSG surgery.

Congrats on your surgery!!! How long did the process take from initial phone call to surgery? I have my last six month weight management program required visit Wednesday for insurance and I am trying to come up with a backup plan if they deny me for some dumb reason! Best wishes in your continued recovery!

Post op from June 9th - I know why I haven't lost any weight! Granted, it takes time to heal, and not everyone loses weight for the first few weeks according to my surgeon. He told me I should be trying to get 800-1000 calories a day and I've been at 500. So, I'm going to try to up my calories and I'll let ya'll know if I start to see a difference! ❤️

you're eating way too few calories to have any real weight gain. It's either water or intestinal contents. And yes - most of us do experience our first stall around the third week post-surgery, so that's almost certainly what's going on. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days if you need to. It'll break and you'll be on your way again

Hey ladies!!! So my update, I have lost 52lbs! None of my clothes fit and yes I have noticed a belly hang. Trying to find my new sizes through online shopping due to the pandemic (everything’s still closed here in Ontario) has been a nightmare!!! All my new pants were showing this weird pudgy lump that I was feeling really self conscious about. So went on to look for spanks. Never wore spanks before... They suck, massively. Not sure but I got three different sizes and all of them suck. They constantly roll and shift. Waste of my money. For those of you ladies who feel the same way a friend of mine introduced me to Zyia. They are a bit too pricey for my liking, but they are compressive leggings that don’t show my naughty bits when I bend over! They also don’t roll down so I’m not constantly trying to pull them up. They are super stretchy too, so I won’t have to continuously buy new pants during my journey. They are considers active wear but they have styles that look like regular leggings that I can wear them to work. I’ve invested in 5 pairs already! You do have to find a rep to buy them, but my friend said they have reps in the states. Try googling “Zyia Active” For the ladies that are in Canada here is a link to the rep I buy from. She has events that you can buy from and get entered into a draw for 50%off an item! I’ve won! They ship all over Canada. mycanadazyia.com/zyia-kw-Kitchener I just wanted to share, because these bad boys actually made me feel sexy in my body!! I know that can be an issues for some of us who were worried about the weight loss. My bulge is sucked right in and I looking fine AF. Anyways, how are you ladies doing? I’m in that weird sizing where not really plus size but not really normal sizes... anyone got tips on tops and bras? I work in an office so def in need of professional looking tops.

I hope you are able now to see that the surgeon was trying to protect your safety by aborting the surgery. You need a functioning liver. Hopefully this will motivate you to lose any additional weight required and try again. You wouldn't be able to sue the surgeon as no harm was done and he does not seem to have acted wrongly (I have studied medical law cases and neither of the things required for you to sue are present here). You just had a bad outcome and you are fortunate that there was no injury and you can try again. If the surgeon HAD completed the surgery, you might have ended up in really bad shape requiring a liver transplant. I hope you are feeling less hopeless and have become determined to get back on track. I know it would be very upsetting to me, too, to have my surgery aborted. I am having enough trouble getting it scheduled!

Oh, I didn’t think the gain was from the amount of food. More specifically water retention from adding food. I’m definitely not upset about it, I was expecting it. Just curious about others’ experience with stalling. ☺️

You’re not eating enough to gain. It’s water weight (and you weigh several pounds more in the evening). Keep on your plan, keep up with fluids, and it’ll break. Stay off the scale for a week or so.