FatToPhat

I have heard that the Roux-N-Y Bypass surgery has been very successful in eliminating diabetes all together and even the scientists aren't sure why. I do question whether the other surgeries do the same other than just weight loss itself solves that problem. I have not been told I am diabetic, but insulin resistant prior to my surgery. I've noticed that my fasting blood sugars are lower since the surgery, but still higher than they should be. I think I just have not lost enough weight yet for it to be making a huge difference. But I'm definitely eating more carbs so I have faith that my sugars WILL get better.

I think it's normal for everybody to "slip up" every once in a while, so don't beat yourself up. Just do the best you can but try to stay motivated and keep your goal in front of you every minute of every day. You'll do fine.

Hi Donna, Fortunately I haven't thrown up, even when I overate. For me, when I'm full, it hurts. It's like when you overeat before the surgery, only worse. I have to just lay back on the couch for about 15 minutes or so before the pain subsides and then I just feel normal full. I try not to let it happen. There's warning signs of feeling full before the pain hits. You just have to learn that when you feel that sense of fullness, STOP eating! If you take one more bite, sometimes that puts you over the edge! At least that's what happens to me, anyway. I will say that the Plication surgery has not eliminated my hunger. I've been having trouble with having a lot of hunger pains so I have to eat every 2-3 hours, also. For some reason I have more hunger during the day. After dinner, I rarely get hungry again, unless I go to bed later, then I'll get hungry just before bed. Good luck with your decision making!

You guys are so lucky that your incisions aren't that noticeable! I'm using the Mederma, so I hope it helps. It's expensive enough!

I went to see my gynecologist today who also works part time in a medical weight loss clinic. She has been very supportive of my surgery and told me today that, despite what I think is slow weight loss, I was "right on track" and she thought I was doing great. It made me feel a lot better about it.

Thanks, it reminded me that, even though my weight loss is slower, I chose the plication because it was safer and I needed reminded of that!

All I know is I am SICK of being fat and SICK of how slow this is going!!!!! I had gained 30 more pounds rapidly after my wedding in September which is what made me think it was time to get the surgery. So, I have the surgery about 2 1/2 months ago and all I've lost is the 30 I recently gained!!! ARRGH! I know it's progress, but it doesn't FEEL like it! I want my clothes to start falling off of me, dang it! I want to look in the mirror and not see that double/triple chin anymore! I'm tired of still feeling tired and run down from dragging all this extra weight around with me! Sorry, just having a bad day....

Yeah, I agree about not eating the right kinds of foods before! And, yeah, I'm still taking my calcium. As women, I think that's really important. Thanks for the input!

Yeah! Way to go!

Yeah, I'm struggling with being "good" too. When my weight loss stalls, as it seems to a lot, I get discouraged and tend to eat more. But if I lose a pound or two I'm much more motivated to eat better. Hmmm....maybe I should stay away from the scale!

The weakness and tiredness should pass as soon as you are able to eat more solid foods. Just concentrate on getting the Water and Protein in! I, also, have a lot of problems with hunger, although I don't think it started until about 3 weeks out. It's been very frustrating to say the least. I was advised to try a PPI like Prilosec in case it's from increased acid production. I do think it helped a little bit. Some people have recommended Gaviscon when they have the hunger pangs, but I haven't tried that, yet. Sometimes a Tums will help, but then the hunger comes back pretty fast. Lately I've just tried to ignore it and it'll go away eventually! Be happy with the 17 lbs! Unfortunately, the weight loss might slow down as you're able to eat more foods.

Those pangs lasted about 2-3 weeks for me. They should go away soon! Hang in there!

That's awesome!!

Best of luck on your upcoming surgery this next week!

That is SO awesome that this surgery is working for you!! It's nice to hear that someone is having success with this surgery. It CAN happen!

Yeah, I, also, kind of felt like we were a little "looked down" upon on the OTHER site! O.K., so 20 lbs in 6 weeks is 3.3 lbs a week! As you can tell, I try to look at it that way instead of the overall picture. Since July 4th is more than 6 weeks away, you'ld definitely reach your goal at that rate! Is the constipation getting any better? It sounds like you're doing well trying to get the Fiber in with the fruits, but I wonder if it's too many carbs. It's kind of a Catch-22. I'm also a little (lot) nervous about whether this is going to work or not. After paying all that money, it's GOT to work. If not, then what??? Best of luck to all of us!

Yeah, even though the weight loss is slower, it seems like it doesn't want to come back on as quickly when I slack off for a few days. I'll take it!

23 lbs since your surgery as of the date you wrote this is 2.9 lbs per week. That's awesome! At that rate you will have lost 110 lbs in 38 weeks or 9 1/2 months! Okay, okay, I realize the weight loss will probably slow down some more, but, hey, didn't that sound pretty good?! And, for $500 more, you could have stayed in Utah and had the surgery with Dr. Cottam! Actually, you probably would have paid a little bit more than that with labs and the initial consult fee of $250, etc. But it sounds like you had a great experience with Dr. Watkins, anyway. I wonder if he is still holding off on doing any more Plications?

I had the Plication surgery on March 7th and have lost 30 lbs so far, which includes what I lost on the preop diet. I chose the GPS because, after researching it, I felt it would be the safest one, it was less, expensive, there were no food restrictions, and, emotionally, I liked the idea of not rearranging my insides or removing part of my stomach. The drawbacks that I had read about were that 1. The hunger producing hormone (ghrelin) part of the stomach was not removed, so there was a risk of continued hunger and 2. the weight loss was slower. I had heard that ghrelin was only produced if your stomach was empty, that the pressure of food on the sides of your stomach stopped its production. Therefore, if you kept your stomach full with small amounts of food that took a while to move through your system, then you wouldn't be hungry. This sounded reasonable to me. However, I will say, now that I've had the surgery, that I've had much more hunger than I would like. I usually get hungry again 1 1/2 to 2 hours after I eat which causes me to eat more frequently throughout the day and, consequently, take in more calories. As far as the slower weight loss is concerned, I lost 13lbs during my one week preop diet, then have lost 17 lbs in the 9 weeks since. That's 1.9 lbs per week. Although many people are losing faster with other surgeries and even the Plication, 2 lbs a week is nothing to get too upset about! That would be 104 lbs in a year and I would LOVE that! But I will also say that I could do a LOT better on getting more exercise and reducing my carbs and my calories. I think my weight loss would be faster if I did those things. Anyway, I don't know if that helps any on your decision making. Good luck no matter what you decide!

I've heard a lot of good about the Spark People site. I had already signed up at MyFoodDiary.com, so I've been using that one. It's fairly inexpensive and works well for me! Hey, nice that we have our own Plication site, huh?!

I'm just ending my 3rd week post op and I've noticed this past week that I have had horrible hunger pangs throughout most of the day. If I eat something, the symptoms usually, but not always, go away. I've been trying not to drink for at least 30 minutes after I eat, but it just seems like the pangs come back really soon, like within a couple of hours. Some of the previous posts have implied that it might actually be stomach acid pains instead, but I've tried both Tums and Pepcid and neither have really helped much. I'm really worried these hunger sensations are going to continue because they come on suddenly and I have to eat something NOW and I'm finding that I'm eating a lot more throughout the day because of them. I've only lost 1 lb this week and think that might be why, also. Anybody else experience this?

Newbie here. I have been researching WLS for a while now and am thinking the Plication is the way to go. However, I'm deeply afraid of the emotional/head hunger that I will probably experience afterwards. I have realized that I'm addicted to food, as much as an alcoholic or drug addict is. So, my fear is that when I get that urge to "binge" or reach for the comfort food in times of stress, since I won't be able to do that after the surgery, I'm afraid I'll have a lot of trouble emotionally with that. Right now if I try to resist it, I actually have episodes of anxiety that just get worse until I give in to the temptation. Have others experienced that and how do you get through it once you've had the surgery? Since there is no turning back once the surgery is done, how does one move forward through those difficult emotional times? Thanks for your input!

I had plication surgery almost 7 weeks ago and really haven't had much trouble with any food I've tried so far, although I haven't tried eating steak, yet. Anyway, tonight my husband made a turkey meatloaf with a mustard sauce recipe that he found in a magazine. It included dry mustard, vinegar and evaporated milk. It tasted just like horseradish sauce which I usually don't like, but I liked this one. Anyway, a few minutes after I started eating it, I started experiencing a strong burning sensation in my stomach. It just got worse and I had to quit eating. I took a couple of Tums and it did subside a bit, but now, more than an hour and a half later, I'm still experiencing some pain and discomfort in my stomach. Anyone else have that problem? I'm pretty sure it had to be the vinegar.

Years ago I started saving money for plastic surgery for WHEN I finally lost my excess weight and needed to tighten up the loose skin I expected to have. The irony is that I could never lose the weight, so I used the money for my weight loss surgery! I guess I'll have to get a 2nd mortgage for the plastic surgery which I'm sure I'll need eventually!

Good for you for giving her an education!