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My mother was always a Yo-Yo dieter and still is at 74. Sometimes it was 25-30 lbs. and others 80-100 lbs. I was chubby as a kid and my mom was always trying to put me on a diet. I remember she made me make a chart in a notebook to track my calories when I was only 12 yrs. old. She would look it over every day to make sure I was doing it correctly. I was sneaking snacks at school, and after school I would go to the convenience store which was the bus stop for snacks like chips, cookies, and candy bars. Oh how I loved junk food. She couldn't understand why I wasn't losing weight, instead gaining. I had to weigh in once a week and write it in the notebook. If I didn't lose that week, she would ground me. For punishment she would make me exercise. Then she would take away food from my meals, making me eat fewer calories. My sister who was skinny would call me fatso, and other not so nice names, and my mom wouldn't do anything about it. My grandfather (mothers father) was relentless and always talked about my weight my entire life. He would always say that it "looked like I put on a few pounds". He did the same to my mom. He finally stopped doing it when I was in my 30's and confronted him about it. I told him that I didn't want to hear his comments about my weight and it was none of his business. He apologized and told me he didn't realize it bothered me so much and he was only joking. Yeah OK. I was also made fun of in school and high school and was not one of the popular girls because of my weight issues. I struggled very hard with this. I didn't have a boyfriend like the other girls because I was too fat. The kids would put "kick me" signs on my back and as I walked down the hallway between classes I would get kicked and if I fell down they would all laugh at me as I tried to pick up my books. It was traumatizing. When I would go home crying to my mom, she would tell me that I have to lose weight if I wanted to "fit in". I could go on and on about my not so nice childhood with weight issues. I will stop here because it is getting too emotional for me. I am 51 yrs. old and still have flashbacks of my younger days. It is very depressing. All I can say is that it sucks to grow up thinking that I was never good enough. It has followed me into my adult life. I am working on it along with other stuff. Even though I have lost weight. I still can hear the rude comments in my head. I don't think it will ever go away.

I love to swim, but the pool in my building is still closed due to COVID. To be honest, I didn't use it that much when it was open because it's tiny and really cold. However, I recently went on vacation and swam almost every day and I realized how much I missed it. I think they are opening the pool soon and I'm going to try to swim again, at least until my surgery, then I'll have to wait until my wounds heal.

I had issues with nausea and vomiting. I used to take the multivitamin/iron capsule from this website, as well as Citracal petites. Vomited nearly every day. I changed it to a multivitamin with no iron, that I take after a few bites of breakfast. At lunch, I take a slow release iron after a few bites. This regimen was suggested by a pharmacist. Then I take 1 tablespoon of liquid calcium citrate in late afternoon, and another at night. no more vomiting! GL!

@ShoppGirl @Suzi_the_Q @SunnyinSC Thank you for your opinion and advice. I really do appreciate it!

Thanks for all the feedback. The stall broke today (ish) as I went down 7 ounces. Ha ha. Hoping tomorrow is better. And Ada, I’ve lost 55lbs after surgery and TODAY is my 5 months. So yes, you’re doing great.

I haven't had surgery yet, but I had the same choice to make so figured I'd share my experience. Keep in mind everyone is different and my choice is just mine. I'm not suggesting that you should make the same decision or anything. So I have had issues with heartburn and I went into my surgery consult set on Gastric Bypass because of that. However, the surgeon recommended, due to my weight, Sleeve because it's less risk of complications. At my weight, the amount of actual loss would be about the same. My nurse then stepped in on my behalf and got an endoscopy to check out my heartburn issues. This was because I am self pay, and I can't really afford to do a sleeve, only to have to get a revision later, so she wanted to see if we could find a root cause of the heartburn/GERD. Endoscopy revealed I had a medium sized Type III hiatal hernia. While the hernia could be repaired during surgery, it also meant I had a good chance of needing a revision in the future if I went with Sleeve. Not guaranteed, but still a high probability. Since I'm self-pay and I definitely don't want to find myself in a position where my heartburn/GERD have gotten worse and I can't pay for a revision, we decided it would be best for me to go with Gastric Bypass. Gastic Bypass is a mal-absorption procedure in addition to just restrictive, so I will have to be extra sure my vitamins are okay, and it is more at risk of complications during surgery/recovery due to multiple incision sites. That being said, overall risk is still really low, it's just higher when compared to sleeve. Definitely weigh out the options, talk honestly and openly with your medical team about risks and complications. Hopefully you can come to a decision that works for you Best of luck!

LOL - thanks! I've been hanging out on bariatric boards for a few years - plus I used to work with the pre-op groups at my clinic (well until COVID hit, anyway - so for three or four years). You hear and learn a lot of stuff that way!

there are statistically more complications with bypass, but complications with either surgery are really pretty low. The rule of thumb lately seems to be if you have GERD issues, go with bypass, otherwise, it comes down to personal preference. They're both good surgeries, and you'll find people on this site who've been very successful with both. you will have to take vitamins for life with both surgeries, but there are more consequences if you slack off on vitamin-taking with bypass because of the malabsorption. But if you're diligent about taking your vitamins, then vitamin deficiency is rare. about 30% of sleeve patients develop GERD (or if they have it prior to surgery, it can get worse), and about the same percentage of bypass patients (about 30%) experience dumping syndrome, and in both cases that's kind of a crap shoot. You can't really predict ahead of time if you'll get those or not (although if you already have GERD, it's very likely not to improve and there's a decent chance it'll get worse with the sleeve. On the other hand, bypass usually improves if not outright cures GERD). If you have bypass and are one of the 30% who dump, it can be controlled by not eating a lot of sugar (or fat - some people dump on fat) at one sitting. hair loss is very common with both surgeries. Actually, it's a potential side effect of any major surgery (and childbirth, too), due to stress on the body. I think we see it more after bariatric surgeries than other surgeries, though, because in addition to the trauma from the surgery, we're also taking in very few calories the first few weeks/months. The good news is, it's temporary - the hair will grow back - and in most cases, you're the only one who'll notice it. A few people don't lose any hair at all, a few lose noticeable clumps of it, but most of us are somewhere in the middle. It's more like "shedding", and it's not enough for others to notice. I didn't lose much at all. It lasted maybe three months and then started growing back. But anyway, don't make your decision based on hair loss, because that's very common regardless of surgery. I don't think you can really make a wrong decision either way. I'd take into account what your doctors say, and also consider your personal preference. Some people are more comfortable with one or the other. As I mentioned, they're both good surgeries and you can get good results with either one.

I had a guy (in real life, not online) ask me out for the first time by asking if I wanted to go to Hawaii with him. I mean, dude really...can we start with coffee first? LOL 😀

Hi Everyone, I’m officially 6 weeks post gastric bypass and I’m feeling great! Starting weight pre-liquid diet was 305lbs. After 3 week liquid diet on day of surgery I weighed in at 277lbs. Today, I’m sitting at 243lbs! I was on the post op liquid diet for 2 weeks then semi-solid for 1 week. 4th week out I started on full solids and have kept everything down. I’ve had pizza, subs, burgers, hotdogs, steak, pork, ribs, wings etc and have never felt nauseous or thrown anything back up. Of course I can only have bites/ounces at a time but it’s great to be back on regular food! With the doctors blessing I golfed 4.5 weeks out and got in 13 holes before it hurt to much to finish, but finished a full round of 18 the next week. Even rode my bike 6km yesterday with the kids....which is who I did this journey in the first place! I’ve had type 2 diabetes for 5 years and have stopped taking meds about 3 weeks ago (doctors suggested) as my resting sugars have not gone over 6.5 in weeks. I’ve read lots of posts on here steering inquiring people the wrong way with horror stories of months/years of not eating regular food and/or not being able to do physical activities months/years post op. My answer is listen to your doctor and your body and do what’s best for you. Everyone is different and the post op experiences are going to be vastly different. Thanks and looking forward to more weight loss and more physical activities with my kids! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk