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Good afternoon, everyone. I'm new here. I was looking for some kind of forum where I could interact with others like me. I think I may have found it. I live in South Texas, and I had a sleeve gastrectomy in Mexico in 2009 when I was 35. I initially weighed 340 lbs and lost 149 lbs. and went from a size 32 to a size 14. My goal was a 12, but I was really happy. I was exercising 5x a week on the elliptical for a whole hour nonstop! I kept the weight off for approximately 6 years. Unfortunately, all kinds of tragic events started changing my life. In 2014 my father passed away, and I took it really, really hard. I ended up on Xanax and Ambien. In 2015, I got divorced. In 2016, my mother passed away. In 2017, I was transferred from a job I really enjoyed to a brand new location with all different people to work with. Then the COVID Pandemic kept me teaching from home for a year and a half. It was literally one heartbreak after another. Rather than looking for actual help, I helped myself... to pills, alcohol, and crap food. Over the past 9 years, I regained all my weight. Even though I still felt restriction in eating (i.e. only half a burger or 1.5 slices of pizza, with no sides or drinks and I was done). I was 10 lbs away from my original weight before my sleeve. Last year, though, my school district sent out an email stating that WLS was now covered by our insurance. I was so excited! I looked into it, made many calls, and thought coverage was out of the question because I had already had a surgery. Our insurance covers "one surgery per life." However, since my first surgery was private pay, they went ahead and accepted covering my revision to a bypass. Today is my 18th day post op. I've lost 42 lbs altogether since May 11, but only 10 of those lbs since the surgery. I feel a little blue because I was hoping for more than a 10lb loss in 3 weeks. I lost more weight at the beginning when I started a semi-liquid diet to prepare for surgery. I was doing 3 shakes and one solid, no-carb meal. I know that revisions are slower than virgin surgeries. I am doing as much reading and research as I can. I just can't help it, I guess. After my sleeve, the weight loss was phenomenal. Right now I am consuming 450 cals, 60 g protein, and keeping my carbs under 40g. I am walking around my house (not outside because South Texas) 4x a day and was told I could start on the treadmill this coming Monday. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I'm also trying to find ways to consume fiber without a lot of carbs. I've eaten 1/2 cup of pinto beans twice but, man, that's a lot of carbs. I wanted to try raspberries, but I'm afraid of the little seeds getting stuck in my sutures. Any advice, thoughts, suggestions?

Hi there my June friends - I hop you re all well. I had my surgery on 1st June (bypass). my starting weight was 215lbs and I am down to 184lbs. I have been able to eat purees foods straight out of hospital for 3.5 weeks and am now on soft food (food that I can get a fork through). I eat about 4-5 small meals per day and try to drink a litre and a half of water. I have not had any problems so far and am enjoying a wider variety of things to eat. I've been swimming almost each morning since just under 3 weeks out of surgery. I think I am doing ok - just so glad to have had this opportunity to help me to manage my weight. There is still so much to learn about this new tool but I am going to enjoy the journey 🙂. I hope you are all happy with the decision to have weight loss surgery xxx

Before I had surgery my life was miserable. Couldnt walk far at all. Looking after myself was such a big drain. I had come to the end of myself and didnt care if the very worst happened cos I was already living it. You know how hard it is. Booking in for the surgery gave me something that I had not had for a very long time ........... Hope. Closer to the operation I was scared but also excited. I had the gastric bypass May last year. Since then I lost 53kg or 116 pounds. I know I still have a way to go but I am feeling so much better in my own skin. I am more mobile and fitter than I have been in years. I am off all diabetic medications including insulin. I am also off my blood pressure and gerd medications too. I have not had any complications. No regrets.

I am almost 11 months post opp and the last 2-3 month I have seen a dramatic halt in weight loss. It's to the point that I feel like I should have went with bypass instead of sleeve. At what point did you see the slow down? Did anyone plateau before they were even close to the goal? And did you do anything in particular to get the weight loss going again?

So there have been talks about pregnancy and babies with my boyfriend. With history of PCOS, my cycles have become regular and I have been ovulating for the last year or so. We may try for pregnancy may be sometime next year. My question is, anyone here who got pregnant after WLS? If yes, did you end up losing your post pregnancy weight? Or was it difficult to bring it back to pre-pregnancy baseline? Currently I am happy with where I am with my weight. But also, looking forward to starting a family if destiny permits. But, the weight gain cycle of pregnancy concerns me. Putting on the weight will naturally happen but I was wondering if the bypass tool will help me lose the weight post pregnancy. Any thoughts, experience shall be great!

Hello everyone, I have an surgery date for Gastric Bypass on Aug 16th, and I have couple questions: Anyone have regrets? Were you scared before surgery?

It's 6 months since my mini gastric bypass. I have lost total of 55 Kg or 121.25 lbs. My weight loss trend is still hovering around 6 Kg (13.2 lbs) loss/month. But from last 3 months, I have seen increase in my hunger. In terms of percentage, the increase would be 20 % as compared to the 3 months back. Is this normal? I am also spending a lot of time for workout - around 6 hours of cardio and 12 hours for strength training + HIIT + weights every week. Not sure if that along with muscle i am developing is causing this hunger? or maybe its normal? Also, lost my job to layoffs recently but finances are not an issue. So just trying to maintain calm and avoid any emotional eating. My current weight is 92.5 Kg or 203.5 lbs. Should I get my metabolism evaluated to see my calorie requirement or wait upto 1 year for weight to stabilize? I had my surgery outside country of residence due to surgery wait times. I do teleconference with bariatric surgeon every 3 months, but no in person visit option available. Please suggest. Thank you

Today weigh in is 172. The post op diet helps to lose so this hasn’t been so bad. I did re-gain (my own choice) to the 160 area and took it a little over when I knew I was getting the revision. So I am 8+ lbs less than my original weight pre surgery and 17 lbs down in 3 weeks from when I left the hospital. I don’t thinks that’s too bad. My worries are at ease because I don’t see the 140 happening anytime soon. Lots of my loss has been fluid and the rest I took on due to being afraid to look sickly again.

Had my surgery today and not feeling to bad. Back pain sucks but that's due to back issues and nit surgery.

good suggestion. I can't modify my original post to request this info, so i'll look up each person's profile and input what it says the type of surgery they had. Not everyone fills this in, so we'll do with what info we have. Also, for those with revisions, only their latest surgery will be noted as it will start to get hairy if i have to cross-reference exactly WHEN they had thier revision...

Things have been going pretty smoothly since bypass surgery June 6. The stages from the surgeon and nutritionalist seem fairly accelerated (compared to others I've looked up in the Internet). I would have a bowl of cream of wheat (3/4 cup of water) or a single egg omelet (adding some cooked mushrooms or shredded smoked salmon). All fine. The canned vegetables are pretty insipid but I don't feel like I'm ready for "raw" veggies and overcooked veggies (steamed) are kinda like the canned stuff- To celebrate my passage into regular food, I took a smoked turkey leg, reheated it, then stripped all skin and tendons off, leaving me with 1/2-3/4 cup of shredded meat. It was too much! I discovered what you folks call the "foamies"-- horrible. If I could have just puked and emptied my stomach, I would have been happy, but oh, no, all that came up was that dreaded froth. I was in major discomfort for hours and wound up falling asleep sitting up. Next day, I decided to go back to basics- just protein drink, Gatorade Zero, a little hummus and 1/2 my usual portion of cream of wheat. I'm now setting up a call with the nutritionist- interestingly, his plan disclaims any recommended portion size. And when I've looked at the internet, every plan is different, with different ranges of portions. I feel much better having gotten through that experience of foamies- whether it was the density of the meat, the quantity, or the smoked flavor, I have no idea but I'm gonna stay away from smoked meats, at least for now. Because I had a hiatal hernia repair, any sort of heavy lifting, sit-ups, etc. are taboo. I am walking (ironically, the mega grocery stores provide me with a venue for that since here in Texas, it's been over 100 degrees F until a couple days ago. Typical Texas summer). So, two questions: 1.portion size- we'll see what the nutritionist says; and 2.did most of you hit overload at some point on your journey? I have been losing weight. I definitely look and feel better, easier to walk without getting winded, etc. My best to all, Deep6

I understand the pain of trying to find a surgeon! I've been trying for the last two years to find a surgeon that would even touch me because I'm not actually having the DS done for weight loss (Although that is a really amazing benefit of it) I had a Nissen fundoplication done in 2005 that has failed and no surgeon wants to revise another's work here locally, so I'm going back and forth 5.5 hours each way to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. So I have a huge learning curve as this wasn't even something I thought was an option until my doctor told me it was his plan to fix me so that I'd have a chance at normalcy again. I'm just looking forward to being able to eat something with flavor. Everything gives me heartburn at this point (including certain brands of bottled water) it's nuts. I basically eat potato soup every day because I know it's something I can handle. I'm hopeful as we get closer and I learn more. But I have also come to the conclusion that some of this will just be embracing the suck.

The result of a Sleeve to GB is different than the result of only the GB (RNY). With the RNY the stomach is sectioned into the 'pouch' and the 'blind stomach.' The 'pouch' is similar to the sleeve, but it is created from a different part of the stomach. The pouch bypasses the Pyloric valve and is attached to the intestine a ways down from the pyloric valve. The sectioned off part of the stomach is still there, still using the pyloric valve, and still processes the gunk (bile) from the Gall Bladder. The Sleeve, as noted, is made from a different part of the stomach forming the sleeve, which is similar in function to the pouch. The sleeve ends at the Pyloric valve, nothing is bypassed. I'm not sure where the bile from the Gaul bladder goes. The sectioned off stomach is removed. So one can see that after a sleeve you just don't have the stomach anymore to do what it does after the RNY. The pouch is still different, though it may be a difference without a difference. It seems like the conversion is just taking out the pyloric valve and whatever portion of the intestines to be bypassed, if indeed any intestines are bypassed at all. So while the Sleeve to GB is similar to an RNY, it is not an RNY. You can also see why this would help GERD, since the Pyloric valve is no longer there to allow stomach acids to back-up. Since the ultimate results of Sleeve to GB and straight up RNY are different it gets a different name, even though it may be functionally the same. Tomato / Tomato. Good luck, Tek

I had a full RNY revision from VSG due to reflux and a hiatal hernia and it really helped me! I wish I had just had the RNY from the start. So happy I had the revision!

I am 58 years old and I have Afib, I also had rheumatic fever when I was a teenager and I have some valve issues. I am a diabetic ( or was ), and wear a CPAP. I had my surgery on 6/5/23. Within a day from the surgery I stopped taking the diabetes medication (after 15 years). I keep checking my blood sugar, and everything is perfect. I have no idea why and how this happened. My CPAP pressure decreased, they told me at the hospital that eventually I will no longer need the CPAP machine. I had no Afib episodes since the surgery. The gastric bypass requires a lifelong commitment of multivitamins, minerals and nutrients due to malabsorption. I tried about 8 separate diets prior to committing to this surgery and I always gained back the weight. The education I received prior to the gastric bypass at Mayo Clinic explained why we always gain the weight back when dieting. I have no issues with the microbiome, I take pre and probiotics daily. I think that this surgery is the best decision of my life and the best thing I could have done for my heart. I knew that this will be so when a doctor told me the same thing years ago, that he got the gastric bypass and it was the best thing he did for himself in his entire life. It is a tough decision and a life commitment but the benefits exceed the struggles. I was like you, I doubted my decision until the morning of the surgery. I am really happy that I went through with it!

Full broad revision. Helped tremendously. No more burning throat (silent reflux), and I never wake up in the middle of the night with acid burning up to my nose.

I just had my RNY gastric bypass on June 29th. Most days I have felt great. Today, at 5 days, I have been experiencing severe pain in my left shoulder. I was told these pains were from the gasses put in my body for the surgery. I was planning to stay off the scale for the most part. However, I weighed myself today. I haven't lost anything! I have followed the full fluid plan that I was given. It scares me to see no huge loss!

I was post menopausal for my bypass. Two of my friends had sleeves with the purpose of having good health and getting pregnant. They both had had issues with PICOS and “advanced age” , over 35. One got pregnant through IVF and had a healthy girl who was born deaf, but has warmly knitted our community closer by making us all learn sign language. The mother regained her weight, BUT the dad had bypass recently and is quickly regaining his health. This family also celebrated HIGHLY the adoption of a daughter prior to the birth. Isn’t that how it always happens? I’m going to say, build your family the way it happens and don’t worry about it. I knew a single guy who worried about never having kids of his own, and his sister and brother-in-law died from a freak plane accident leaving him with two nephews to raise!!! The second mother successfully had her baby girl (she may be younger but I’m not going to ask) the “normal “ way. She did regain after the 3 yr mark, but quickly got back to track using hot yoga and a new business she started. Everybody retained their good health. Isn’t this about health and creating family? It’s going to happen one way or another, watch and see, worrying won’t make it better. GBY

RNY is a type of gastrojejunostomy. In RNY your duodenum is bypassed and stomach gets connected to jejunum. So medical terminology of what you stated is a bypass as far as I can tell! In terms of how much is bypassed is determined by the surgeon and his or her expertise!

My doctor is recommended I have a bypass revision done (currently 5 years put on my sleeve) as I have severe GERD and weight gain. For those that have had this done….. which bypass did they do? Full ? Mini? Or? and did it help? Thanks in advance.

So I'm looking at my medical records online and I see that I had a "gastrojejunostomy and resection of the distal part of stomach for gastric polyposis and refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease". I was like HUH?? Now I'm confused. I went online to look up the differences between this and the bypass, and some sites say they are basically the same, some say they are different because a different area is bypassed with the gastrojejunostomy, some say the gastrojejunostomy is part of the bypass, and I have no clue what to think. At no time did my surgeon ever mention anything other than bypass. No other words, procedures, names of procedures, etc. Just a bypass and removing my lower stomach. So now...what the actual heck????

honestly, weight loss is really more about the person vs the type of surgery. you as an individual will likely lose the same amount of weight no matter which wls you choose. do the best that you can and you will get where your effort will take you ❤️ for what it's worth, i had the sleeve and lost everything that i wanted to. and i believe i would've got to the same place eventually if i had bypass or ds or whatever**. **Edited to add: except maybe the lapband... P.S. hope all goes well with you from here in out ❤️

like Arabesque said, the DS used to be done in two phases - first they'd do a sleeve, then they'd go back in later and bypass the small intestine. So as long as things work out with your pancreas, they can always go back in and do phase 2. meanwhile, it's a good thing they found the problem so they can deal with it now before it gets worse (that is, if it would have gotten worse).

Pals, Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge and wisdom. You have given me so much to think about that I have decided to cancel my consult scheduled next week. Very true that the experience my sister endured has a major influence on my hesitancy. You've also shared information I did not know about, such as the bypass may be reversible and the Reshape vest that may be an option down the road. I've also read posts where people with Bands had complications and suffered for weeks and months before their issues were addressed. Thanks for sharing and helping me realize I need to hit the pause button! Happy Independence Day!

I was wondering if any of you would be able to share some information with me regarding getting pregnant/pregnancy after a bypass (mgb or regular). I am so mentally ready to have a baby but all the unknowns are stressing me out! 1. Did you have to get cleared by your surgeon to start trying and if so, what did they check? 2. Did you work with a dietician to get the right nutrients/calories for yourself & your baby or did you figure it out yourself? 3. How much weight did you gain and did you lose it after? 4. Did you get followed up as a high risk pregnancy because of your bypass? 5. Did you have a caesarean because of your bypass? 6. Did you have complications related to your bypass? 7. Were there any effects on your baby related to your bypass? Thanks already for answering any questions, I appreciate it so much 😊