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May 2024 Surgery Buddies 😁
JadeMonk80 replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I started getting anxious as the date got closer. I don’t remember going under. I remember going into the surgery room and that’s it. Then waking up in the recovery room. You got this!!!! -
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May 2024 Surgery Buddies 😁
mhorton82 replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Good luck on your surgery, that’s the easy part of this journey. -
Food Before and After Photos
Lilia_90 replied to GreenTealael's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
This looks so good!! - Today
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GreenTealael changed their profile photo
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Food Before and After Photos
Lilia_90 replied to GreenTealael's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Dinner: Cheesesteak filling with caramelized onions, mushrooms and light cheese on Boston lettuce. Ate this entire one and 2 broccoli florets (around 150 calories) -
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May 2024 Surgery Buddies 😁
Bypass2Freedom replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
My surgery is on Tuesday and I am feeling the nerves seep in a little bit! 😖 Really nervous about the anesthetic! -
Exactly ! I think it’s the smell more than taste that’s activating my gag reflex even before i swallow them. I never had an issue with vitamins before surgery it’s so weird. Does anyone know the composition that i should be looking for ? I don’t even know how to compare brands because i’m not sure what measurements of what vitamin or mineral i should be taking.
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May 2024 Surgery Buddies 😁
Calli replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Day 1 post op. Im home. Had cream of wheat. Coffee. So far so good. Whomever recommended the weighted heat-pad, biggest thank you! No narcotics- gabapentin, tylenol, flexeril work well to control pain. I recommend buying liquid adult tylenol. They gave me pills and it hurt alot…i asked for liquid tylenol after that. You can find adult liquid tylenol at amazon if you cannot find in store -
Thank you! I just ordered a sample pack to try them out - fingers crossed
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Food Before and After Photos
GreenTealael replied to GreenTealael's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Is it effecting maintenance negatively? -
I went through similar for the first few months and couldn't keep them down. In the end my surgeon agreed that I could take 'normal' vitamins for a month, which I had been taking pre-op, and then to go on to a different format of the bariatric vitamins once my stomach was ready to accept them. I had been taking the hard ones that were so big, dry and tasted disgusting and couldn't keep them down, even the smell of them turned my stomach. Now I can take the capsule format as there is no taste or smell. I also tried a different brand of bariatric capsules but they were cherry tasting (hate) and couldn't keep them down and even putting into a smoothie turned the the taste of the smoothie vile. For the calcium I have to just buy generic ones on Amazon as the special bariatric ones I can get here can only be sold as a package with the horrible cherry capsules. I also had to take a daily dose of iron for a month or so when my levels got too low as I have pernicious anemia. Picture attached of the daily vitamin one I take. I also took their special hair capsule one in addition for three months to help when I was losing so much hair.
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Food Before and After Photos
GreenTealael replied to GreenTealael's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Yogurt and Chia parfait (blueberries hidden at the bottom) -
Food Before and After Photos
GreenTealael replied to GreenTealael's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
I prefer jarred olives! -
I use the Baritastic app. It tracks food macros and fluid intake. I track EVERYTHING that goes in my mouth, even condiments and coffee. LOL It helps immensely with staying on track. My Apple watch doesn't help with intake. It helps me remember to stand hourly. It counts my steps. It annoys me with messages all day. It reminds me to take my meds and vitamins. But it doesn't help with meals. Though there might be something to set in it to help with that? I just don't because my meal times vary a bit depending on when I wake up and eat my first meal. I highly suggest you get a pill case and dose out your vitamins for the whole week, or in my case, the whole month! A dietician can provide you with a list of supplementation or you can hunt down the ASMBS guidelines for your surgery, that's what most good dieticians use. It sounds like you may need to be watching your protein, fat, and calcium intake. Many people a few years out from the various surgeries start to show nutritional deficiencies if they haven't been keeping up with their protein intake and supplementation. Good hydration is important too. If you can, it would be wise to go have bariatric labs drawn, your GP can do this if you aren't still seeing your surgery center. A bariatric practice could do this too and would be good to follow up with if you are struggling with regain and getting back on track. You can do this!!
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I remember the first time I realized I have food noise. I was given Saxenda and several weeks into it as I increased the dose, I noticed that the mental pressure to eat was gone... It was like that voice that often brought up food throughout the day was suddenly silenced. I never even realized it was there before, it was such a familiar thing in my mental landscape it didn't occur to me that not everyone has that! GLP-1 medications in general are known for this side effect. Meds for ADHD like Vyvanse and anti-depressants like Wellbutrin are also known to help with this. When I went off my Ozempic before surgery, the voice came back with a vengeance!! I didn't have much of a appetite pre-op, but man did it come back post-op... For the first month I was sooo hungry. And the voice was SO loud. Thankfully I have a lot of techniques to manage inner voices, due to a decade of somatic based trauma therapy. I think without that, the process would have been so much harder for me. One thing that helps me the most is distinguishing that part as a PART of me, not ALL of me. So instead of "I'm hungry!" it is "I'm noticing a part of me feels hungry." This may seem like a weird distinction, but research has shown when we do this with emotions "A part of me is angry." vs "I'm angry!") it helps us create a little space between us and the feeling and helps us remember that there are other parts of us present and not all of them are caught up in the emotion of the moment. Remembering there are parts of ourselves that are like Switzerland helps us navigate internally when voices get loud. So I apply this to head hunger too. I identify the part of me that is hungry. I ask it what it needs. I validate its experience. And then I offer to just sit with it for a while and be present with the feeling of hunger. Then I let it know when we are next going to eat and orient that part to thinking of what we might want to eat at the coming meal. I'm sure this approach won't work for everyone, it is just what I tend to do. I notice when I hear the parts of me that feel things and give them some presence, they often start to soften, or have something important to tell me about what we are experiencing in that moment. For instance, I have severe ADHD. I get easily distracted and forget to eat. Post op it has been a struggle. That voice is there to remind me to tend my body. It may be louder than most people have it, but it still serves a purpose and when I can give it a job it tends to fight with me less. I eat every 3 hours. Without exception. If I go past 3 hours the voices get really loud and I feel sick, probably my blood sugar dropping... So I eat every 3 hours. But I eat within a 30 minute window, then I'm done. I don't snack in between. If my body tells me we need more food before the 3 hour mark I stop to reflect why this might be. If it is because I am bored, I find something to redirect the energy to and wait. If it is due to a workout or being sick and burning through energy faster. I may add in an earlier meal. Seeing my body as something to partner with, as something I have a relationship with that I want to be a GOOD relationship, seems to help me remember to treat my inner voices with kindness and compassion instead of judgment and irritation. If someone you were closely connected to constantly ignored you or snapped at you, over time you'd either get louder or go away. That is what I did to my body. So now when I hear the voice it is a reminder that this is something I'm working to relate to in a healthier way, so I choose a reaction to it like I'd choose a reaction to a friend reminding me to eat or drink water. Sorry for the long ramble, it just happens to be something I've been reflecting deeply on over the past 6 months!! ETA: I do take Wellbutrin for depression. I have never noticed it affecting that internal voice, but some notice an impact. If you are struggling deeply with this voice, you might consider a medication that can support you in this. I have a good friend who has ADHD and noticed when she started Vyvanse it significantly helped with the food noise and binging behavior. It isn't a good solution for everyone, but it is a good solution for some. ❤️
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2 weeks post op with minimum restriction and present hunger
ChunkCat replied to KaterinaC's topic in Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums
There is nothing wrong with you... First, when we have surgery, a lot of nerves are cut that need time to heal. These are the nerves that tell us we are full, or getting full. So you are not getting accurate feedback from your stomach right now. These cut nerves take several months to heal fully. I noticed a distinct change in my fullness cues around 3 months out. Second--just because you CAN eat that amount doesn't mean you SHOULD (I'm so thankful the regulars here remind us all of this early post-op). You aren't getting accurate messages about your restriction right now, and different foods will cause different feelings of restriction or lack thereof. Try to stick to the small portions your dietician should have gone over with you. You have a lot of sutures holding your healing tummy together, you don't want to stress them. Take your time here, there is no rush. Third--different foods will cause different feelings of fullness. Purees often don't cause fullness, even meat purees. When you get into soft foods you might start to feel restriction when you eat denser proteins. But again, your stomach is still healing, so it may take time to feel your restriction, and some people never feel strong restriction, or don't feel it until they are overly full. This is where it is important to measure out your portions and eat tiny bites, slowly, watching for any signs of fullness. For us post op that may feel very different than it did pre-op. For me, for the first few months, all I would get is violent sneezing, intense hiccups, runny nose, etc... It took a while before I started feeling internal pressure with fullness. Fourth--Hunger is a b***h! Some people lose it, not everyone does. I woke up in recovery STARVING!! I was so mad. 😂I felt like I'd been given a faulty surgery. LOL But it really made me learn to work with my hunger cues and to sit with the discomfort of being hungry for a while. I was very, very hungry the first few weeks because nothing feels like it has enough substance to calm that ravenous hunger. This will ease in time as you progress your diet. For now all you can do is learn to distinguish head hunger from body hunger and learn to deal with the fact that sometimes we feel hungry and that's okay. Lastly, many people can drink water freely post op. You don't list your surgery, but this is very common with gastric bypass patients, though I have seen it with sleeve patients too. Once the internal swelling goes down, many can drink water easily. This is a blessing, since dehydration is the #1 reason bariatric patients end up in the ER post op! -
Did anyone else stall when...
ChunkCat replied to NickelChip's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I've had this happen! My body seems to have some set points it is familiar with and I have noticed myself stalling at them or at least holding there for a week or two. My first stall post-op lasted 6 weeks and was at around the same weight I got to when I took Saxenda. I hope your stall is gone and over WAY before then!! It is interesting that your body picked that spot to stall at. I really wonder if the body has a variety of set points within it as opposed to just one. The way I understand it is that stalls mean our body has reached the point that we've lost enough it needs to reassure itself we aren't starving to death. So it stops weight loss, recalibrates, and assesses things before moving forward. It makes sense to me that for some of us this may happen at previous points of stalling or previous weights we stayed at for a while... -
November 2023 buddies
ChunkCat replied to brandycsiz's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Alright guys, 6 months is upon us!! This pic is from the morning of my 6 month post op visit. I weighed in at 232 in office. That is 88 lbs since my highest weight, 75 lbs since surgery! Weirdly, I am smaller now that I was last time I was at this weight. The surgeon found this funny and said the way our bodies lose weight can be really entertaining. LOL I startled myself the other day because I pulled out my smallest clothes (the smallest I have ever been as an adult was 195) and my size 16 jeans fit, zip easily, and are huge in the waist!! That means my smallest size, a 14, will probably fit now snugly, or comfortably in another month. How insane is that?? How can I fit into clothes I had to be 30 lbs lighter to wear last time?? Magic, that's how. 😂 The surgeon estimates I'll be at around 200 lbs by my year mark, though he said if I don't get quite to 200 to not stress it. We each lose weight at our own pace and with my common channel length I can expect to lose weight (albeit much slower) through the second year and possibly into the 3rd year, though at that point it'll be 1 lb here and there. This is the upside of the duodenal switch, it is a long, slow burn. Most stabilize around 18 months to 2 years, but there are always outliers. I feel pretty great! I had a hiatal hernia repair in mid April after I starting having issues choking on my food and pills not going down (I even ended up in the ER with it, which was awful, they don't get bariatric patients at all!!). I gained 15 lbs overnight and it took 2 weeks to get it off, so that on top of my stall for most of March really slowed my weight loss down. But that's okay, I'm reminding myself I have faith that it will come off in its own time. But man, it is hard to remember that when the scale goes up!! In other news, my GP and bariatric surgeon both think I have POTS. I've had issues with it on and off since having a bad case of Epstein Barr Virus (mono) that put me in the hospital a few years ago. It seems every time my body gets stressed it reverts back to having symptoms and it seems it counts any surgery as a major stressor (understandably). She referred me to a specialist and my appointment is October 24th, 2025. Uhuh, 2025, not a typo. He's booking 1 1/2 years out. There are only 2 doctors in the state that specialize in it. So I'm not a happy camper... Meanwhile we are trying a low dose of a beta blocker to see if it helps with the dizziness when I change positions, the racing heart rate when standing/exerting myself, and the exercise intolerance... And doing the lifestyle things like compression leggings, increasing salt and fluid intake, etc... It seems that a lot of Long Covid patients end up having POTS too. Have you looked into this @SomeBigGuy ?? How are you doing? How is everyone else doing?? -
I have no clue where to upload this, so I'll put it here. This is pre-op vs the morning of my 6 month appointment! In office I weight 232, that's 88 lbs down since my highest weight, 75 lbs since my surgery weight! I can't believe this jacket fit... I am smaller now than the last time I was this size which the surgeon found really amusing. He's happy with where I am in my weight loss and estimates I'll be around 200 lbs by my 1 year anniversary! My lowest weight as an adult is 195, so that's pretty damn exciting to think I'll be near that at a year. Everything from there will be unknown territory!!
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I needed to talk…
ChunkCat replied to Vanessa Correal's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Hi Vanessa! Is there something particular that has made you sad, or is this the weight loss blues (which are totally valid BTW)? I find empty theaters so soothing. I just wish they'd turn the movie down a little. I keep meaning to try going to see one with earplugs in, I hear that helps sensitive ears. 60 lbs that quick is amazing! My weight loss has been slower, but we all have our different paces... Have you struggled with depression before surgery? Sometimes surgery and the weight loss journey can trigger it. You are not alone. Thank you for posting and letting us know what you need. I will just say that if you were on medication for depression before surgery, you might want to touch base with your provider. Our surgeries can sometimes change the way we absorb our medications. I had to change mine around because I wasn't absorbing them properly and was slowly going through withdrawals, which was NOT fun! Thankfully all is well now, I knew to watch for that issue and we caught it quickly! -
I've never done any type of detox. I'm not sure if it really does what people say it does.
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it's really, really rare to have a stricture that late - they almost always appear - if they're going to appear - within the first three months after surgery. I had two - at four weeks out and again at eight weeks out. The first time I knew something was wrong and I called my clinic. They suspected it was a stricture and sent me over to the hospital for an upper endoscopy to confirm (and "fix") it. The second time I knew exactly what it was since I'd seen this movie before and I went right in to have it stretched. So no, I never got to the point you were at. For those newbies who are reading this, strictures only happen to about 5% of bypass patients (they can happen to sleeve patients as well, but they're very rare with sleeve), and they almost always happen within the first three months after surgery. Just be aware of the symptoms she listed and contact your clinic if you first start noticing stuff like this. They're not going to heal on their own, and they're an easy fix. Just make sure to let your clinic know if you start having these kinds of symptoms (can't keep anything down, nausea all the time) since these are not normal and are usually indicative of a stricture.
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Did anyone else stall when...
catwoman7 replied to NickelChip's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I had several stalls - but they all eventually broke and I kept going until I hit goal (actually, about 10 lbs under) 20 months later. When I tried to lose weight on my own, I'd lose at most about 50 lbs before I'd hit a brick wall and my weight would eventually start heading back up. WLS was the only thing that allowed me to break through those brick walls and lose all of my excess weight (100% of it - although I've gained about 20 lbs of it back over the years). I think it's just a coincidence that you're having a stall at your former "brick wall". Just keep plugging away at it. It does get harder the closer you get to goal, though. Those last 20 or 30 lbs were a bear to get off (and It could be that my new, post op "set point" IS where I am now - but this is way, way lower than any pre-WLS set points). -
Ehwre betty joined the community
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I'm going on 12 weeks post-op and for the past 2 weeks, I have been stalled. I know this is common, if frustrating. But what interests me is where I stalled. About 7 years ago, I had my most successful attempt at weight loss through nutrition counseling. I started at 251 lbs and I lost fairly rapidly and steadily for 6 months through calorie restriction and daily walking, reaching a low-point of 203.8 lbs. And then I stalled. I never got below 203.8. In fact, I steadily gained about 10 lbs over the next several months and then maintained that higher weight for maybe a year, and then gained more. When I started the surgical program last summer, I was right back at 251 lbs. Perhaps coincidentally, 203 lbs is a number I remember being fairly consistent for me in my mid to late 20s. When I weighed myself, not having dieted at all and just living my life, I was usually between 202 and 205 for several years. My question is, did anyone else stall when you reached a certain weight where you had either struggled to get lower in the past or where your body had been very comfortable for a long time at one point? I'm curious if this could be some sort of built-in set-point where my body is trying to settle itself just because it remembers being comfortable here for some reason. Like after the shock of the last several weeks it's saying "Oh, thank God, I recognize this street. I think I'll live here." I know the surgery is still doing its job and I will hopefully see this stall break soon. It's early days. But I'm just fascinated by how this particular number seems important to my body in some way. Did anyone else have a similar experience?
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Thank you so much for the info @catwoman7! Knowing it’ll take me 14-90 days helps me make a better plan such as including sauna and drinking lemon water. Have you per chance done any parasite cleanse and heavy metals detox that has worked for you? As I mentioned, I want to heal my digestive system and regain better health 🙏🥹
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Yes! My surgery is on Tuesday! 14/05/24
