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My daughter came home today and she told me I should try on some of her dresses from her college formal days. Never, ever, ever did I expect them to fit. I feel pretty good after I looked at these photos. Of course, I've got the whole "bat wings" going on, but I'm not going to stress over the details. Just wanted to share my joy of the moment!

A little over year since my VSG, hair loss started about three months later. I have noticed in the past week, that hair loss has substanitally reduced when showering/washing hair, woohoo! I have fine curly hair and while showering hair loss was about three to four times my usual, I don't think anyone noticed but my hairdresser and me, if anyone did notice they certainly didn't didn't mention it to me. Coming into Autumn soon, hair growth is likely to slow down again due to seaonal changes, but I don't expect that the loss rate will pick up again;

I am pretty far out from surgery and still have bouts w constipation (7/2018 sleeved) When it happens I start putting a scoop of miralax in my coffee in the morning and if it doesn’t work the first day it does by the second day. Works for me.

I also had really intense constipation for the first month after the sleeve. I took Benefiber and stool softeners and drank 90 oz of water a day, but I still had long bouts of painful constipation (5 days or more). At my one month check-in with the nutritionist, she told me it was fine to use Milk of Magnesia every other day prophylactically until I started getting more plant fiber in my diet. She also told me to add chia seeds to my Greek yogurt. This worked for that second month and, now 2.5 months out, I am able to eat more veggies and not taking the Milk of Magnesia anymore and am totally regular lol. TL;DR In my experience, getting enough fiber gets easier every week. Talk to your surgeon or nutritionist about Milk of Magnesia. My nutritionist didn't want people relying on it indefinitely, but was fine with me using it very regularly for a month until I started getting more fiber.

Jaelzion, that's wild! I've been eating airpopped popcorn without issues since about 6 months post op, and I drink a can of diet soda here and there. My dietician was totally on board with the popcorn because it's a good source of fiber. She did mention that many people do not tolerate it well. My doctor does not approve of the diet soda, but he also admits it's not going to "stretch" anything. He says he's more worried about calcium depletion and it being a gateway to transitioning to sugar soda again....which I think are extremely valid concerns. One food I do struggle with...that kinda grieves me....is corn on the cob. Not sure if I don't chew it well enough, or what happens, but it's the one food that will still give me issues if I'm not SUPER careful. (need to chew it thoroughly, eat slow small bites... and have bites of more slippery foods between bites of corn on the cob or I end up getting that stuck feeling...even now)

Awesome! So exciting. I've only been on the forum a short time but have found so much support and great resources. Keep us updated on your future surgery. 🙂

This description of the dangers of Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCD) from the University of Michigan describes some of the metabolic issues that are associated with sustained diets under 1000 calories a day. https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/aa144561 (from the above link) The following are the changes your body goes through during a VLCD: Your metabolism slows to conserve energy because the body thinks it is starving. A slower metabolism burns fewer calories. To get the carbohydrate it needs, your body breaks down protein. You lose lean body tissues (muscle and organ tissue). It is important to preserve lean tissue, because it increases your basal metabolic rate. Losing too much lean tissue increases the percentage of fat in your body. The result is a reduced metabolism. This is one reason why it is so easy to regain weight after you lose weight quickly. In a VLCD (or during starvation), about half the weight you lose is fat and the other half is lean tissue, such as muscle. On a more moderate diet, you lose 3 times more fat than lean tissue. It is important to preserve lean tissue, since it increases your resting metabolic rate. Mineral and electrolyte imbalances can occur. These imbalances can be life-threatening. This is the reason these VLCDs must only be used under a health professional's supervision. Bone mass is lost. This is more risky for women, because they diet more often than men, and they are also at higher risk for osteoporosis.

Thanks everyone. I’m going to look into protein hot cocoa. I already have genepro on hand, so I’ll start using some more of that. I’ve been sipping on my protein water as well. I might just stick to my Fairlife milk until Tuesday because the protein drink I had today actually made me vomit ☹️

Greetings Mae7365, I certainly don’t feel like a “virgin” RYGB individual. As you said in your post, “We’ve been there, done that”. We’ve gone from our VSG into a RYGB revision to tackle difficult health issues. Ever since the RYGB and hiatal hernia surgeries, I haven’t had any amount of GERD. My lower belly abdominal pains are gone. My erosive esophagitis is now healing. This amazing RYGB surgery has done wonders for tackling any medical conditions I had going into the RYGB revision surgery. I just figured out that I will be on full liquid diet for another 10 days. I bought on Amazon a good book on getting the most from the full liquid diet BEGINNERS GUIDE TO FULL LIQUID DIET FOR WEIGHT LOSS: BEGINNERS FRIENDLY GUIDE TO FULL LIQUID DIET FOR WEIGHT LOSS & HEALTHY LIFESTYLE . It’s a very good guide.

I have mine in my breast bone, its a bit of a pain with underwired bra’s so i wear sports ones- unusual place for mine too