6 Month Post Op Band to RNY Revision

[Matt Z 4,139]

Hello everyone.
Today marks my 6 month Post-op Band to RNY Revision.
It's been an interesting ride.

March 21st, I arrived for my surgery at 0600. Was taken back to prep at 0630 and was in surgery before 0730.
My surgery was a tough one, the band was fully encapsulated in scar tissue and took almost 4 times longer to remove than it should have, the surgery itself lasted much longer than expected. But, thankfully my super awesome surgeon Dr. Beth Ryder stuck with it and completed the full revision rather than only removing the band.
I remember it being after 3pm when I made it to the recovery room.
Recovery, for me, was super easy. I was a little weak/woozy for my first walk around recovery. But once I got to my room for the rest of my 3 day 2 night stay, things were just super easy. I would disconnect and reconnect myself from pretty much everything to do my walks. I didn't need any extra nausea meds or pain meds. I did have an on demand morphine drip if needed. I'd hit that before I had to do any big moves, or to help me sleep. But that's really it. They took that away early on my last day, it was no longer needed.

At home, things continued to be easy, I was already familiar with the log roll method of getting in and out of bed from my lapband surgery, so I had zero issues with that.
I took my time with things, followed my instructions and made sure to hit all my requirements.

The weight loss has been both amazing, and frustrating.
I weigh myself every day. I know it's not advised, but I like to track it daily if possible. I have a scale that does body fat % as well and this has helped quell some of the frustration, those stalls, I'd see my body fat % dropping, so I knew that even if my weight wasn't moving, that I was still on track. It helped a bit, but still, it was / is, frustrating.

I feel fantastic. I've had issues with not recognizing myself in mirrors which is a trip. I've almost broke down in tears because I could shop at normal stores, I bought things right off the rack without trying them on and they fit exactly as I expected. I'm much more active, have less issues with lots of things. I'm very happy overall.

There have been some odd "side effects". I have thoracic spinal arthritis. Guess I've had it for a while, but because I was fat, the visceral fat that covers our bones, tendons, joints, muscles, etc, was insulating the nerves from the arthritis. So, I drop a ton of weight... and now I can feel it. Also, with the visceral fat loss, tendons and other connective areas had gotten a little, slack/loose/painful. But that wasn't anything some time in the gym couldn't fix. Working out really REALLY helped tighten up areas that were excessively loose, internally.

Excess skin isn't super bad either. Which is awesome seeing as I'm coming from a max of 370. Yes I've got a bunch of odd "crinkly" skin, but it's not near as bad as I had expected.

I got lucky and didn't have to deal with Hair loss either. Thankful for that.

I'm hairier now it seems. I guess with reducing the "stretch" my skin had to do in order to accommodate me being overweight caused the follicles to become spaced out more. So I'm not "hairier" exactly, but my follicles are closer together making for the appearance of being hairier.

I've had some CRAZY emotional swings. Fat stores estrogen, So as you lose weight, expect there to be hormonal imbalances. Make sure whomever your support is, knows this as well, so when things get heated or super emotional, they'll understand that you are dealing with weight loss related hormonal changes.

I'm able to eat pretty much anything I want now. Which is a double edged sword. I can eat cake and Cookies and cupcakes without any real issue. But, I can eat cake, cookies, cupcakes without any issue... so, will power is still needed.

I got lucky and my hunger sensation is still very low. I don't get a "full" feeling exactly, but I get to a point where I just don't want to eat anything else.
I still take my time and I don't drink within 30 mins of eating.

I'm currently doing a light Intermittent Fasting (IF), I'm eating between the hours of 8am and 6pm and that's pretty much it. The science behind this process is pretty sound and makes TONS of logical sense.

March 21st, I weighed in at 294.4.
Today, I weighed in at 224.1, 70.3 lbs dropped since surgery, 145.9 lbs since my heaviest.

Thank you to all for your help and support. I hope to continue hanging around providing any help I can to those walking the same path.

To all:
Learn to love yourself.
Learn to forgive yourself.
Stay strong, everything is only temporary.

[KimTriesRNY 1,853]

It’s a wild ride.

I can totally relate to feeling like crying after being able to shop in normal sizes after I don’t know how many years...it is a surreal feeling. You look at a shirt or a pair of jeans and you think, that’s not going to fit me...that looks small...but you are in the darn store to buy smaller clothes because what you have is too big!

I am the same in that I seem to be able to eat whatever I want in moderation and tolerate it, even sweets...but this does allow me to taste homemade goodies very rarely and I am okay with that.

I hope you continue to be successful, I hope we all do. I feel like my surgery saved my life in so many ways.

Congrats!

[FluffyChix 17,415]

Congrats @Matt Z 70.3lbs is AMAZING, as is your journey!!! Thanks for sharing this with us!!! I'm so glad we have a dude hangin' with us to help lay out what goes down from a male perspective (or up... bahahahahaha!) Have an awesome 'nother 6 months!

[J San 1,071]

What a great success story. Congrats on your progress!! It's really a great thing to read these but especially when it's another dude. Just seems to hit home a bit more. Thanks for sharing your story and insight. Very much appreciated!!!

[GreenTealael 25,351]

Congrats Cash! 😎

[Jobber 321]

Congrats @Matt Z, sounds like you went through a lot. I wish you continued success on your journey.