New to Revision (Sleeve to Bypass) Seeking Advice

[CarmenG 151]

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?

[GreenTealael 25,494]

I think that if you are doing everything right, watch your sodium and Water intake to see if you are retaining fluids. Otherwise just keep going and don’t get discouraged because you could just be in a stall.

[CarmenG 151]

Yeah, I haven't even thought about sodium. My Water intake is low though 😣. I am barely drinking 6 cups of water in a day. And that's all I drink. Just water. But I'm working on it. Thank you for your thoughts.😊

[Arabesque 7,517]

Life just sometimes throws crap at you & it sounds like you went through the worst of it. So sorry.

Sounds like you are the right thing (& yes avoid fruit at the moment). Ten pounds is far from a bad loss & you’re certainly not failing. I’d lost about 11lbs at 18 days & my surgeon was happy with my rate of loss. Remember too that many don’t lose as quickly or as much after a revision.

[CarmenG 151]

Thank you for the encouragement. It's very different from my sleeve from 14 years ago. I'm just gonna keep tracking my food and Water and keep walking. I'm hoping when I go back to work, it will come off faster because I'll be busy with my kids all day. 😊

[SuziDavis 548]

From what I have read in the revision forum, you don't lose like you did the first time when you have the revision. So I wouldn't stress about it,

[RickM 1,753]

The good news is that this seems to be fairly normal - our weight loss when we start a major effort, surgical or not, tends to be front loaded - lots of initial loss, mostly Water weight, and then slows down. Plus you are just getting in.to the "three week stall" window where weight loss typically slows or stops for a bit while the body absorbs what has happened to it, and then resumes (though usually at a slower rate.)

The not so good news is that as a revision, weightloss is typically slower and less than with the original surgery. My simple minded thought on this is that originally, our stomachs will hold 32-64 oz, but now after your original WLS and whatever stretch and adaptation it goes through over the years, it might hold 4-6 oz, yet you have adapted to that (learned how to eat around your sleeve/pouch) and still regained. So things will be slower. And, the biggest loss tends to be around surgery time when we are stuck with the highly restrictive pre- and post-op dieting. Additionally, the RNY is metabolically similar to your original VSG, so it doesn't provide a big change over what you had - so it is much slower going the second time around. (The DS, duodenal switch, is stronger metabolically than either of the others, so does work somewhat better on regain, but few surgeons offer it, or mention it.)

Those who I have seen who have done really well with revision weight loss are those who take the "I'm not going to let that happen again" attitude and really knuckle under and get, and stay with, the program.

[CarmenG 151]

SuziDavis, thanks for the support. I'm trying not to stress. The more I read posts here on this forum, the more I realize it's pretty normal. 😊

[CarmenG 151]

RickM, thank you for your reply. I'm slowly realizing it's a completely different journey than when I had my sleeve 14 years ago. I'm going to try to stay away from the scale for a while (I was using it every 3 days because when I was sleeved, I was really losing weight fast). After my sleeve, I lost 15 lbs first week, 9 lbs second week, and it just melted off. Over the summer, I'd lost 78 lbs altogether. So this is a really big change. But I'm sticking to my plan, my Vitamins, and working on upping my Water intake. Since May 11, I've lost 43 lbs, so in retrospect, it's really not so bad. 😊