makemyownluck

You only have 27lbs to goal? That's AWESOME!! I can bet that you're actually making a lot of GOOD choices too if you're maintaining your weight so close to goal. That's something to be applauded, too! Not gaining, IMO, is just as exciting as losing. But I have a long way to go, lol.
I'd try to cut out carbs, even if it's just for a week or two, to see if it curbs your appetite. I've read that the hunger does eventually come back, and I hope mine stays gone for a long time! But when I was pre-op, I did a low, low carb (almost no carb) diet and my hunger was completely gone in 2-3 days.
Maybe do that for a few months if you can, get to goal, and then start adding in carbs to maintain? Do you think you'll make it to goal without needing surgery to remove any skin?

Well, you say you haven't lost weight, but have you gained? If you haven't gained (or haven't gained much), then that's your sleeve hard at work, even when you're not controlling what you're eating very well.
I'd definitely suggest tracking everything you eat. There are apps like My Fitness Pal and Spark that let you enter in your recipes so you can truly track it all. Tracking makes me see in no uncertain terms what I'm eating and lets me see where I need to make adjustments. Definitely make sure you're getting your Protein requirements in and watch your carb/sugar intake. When you eat lots of processed food, carbs and sugar, it keeps your blood sugar fluctuating too much and makes you feel hungry sooner. Plus, as someone else mentioned, it goes right through your stomach. Protein dense foods take longer to digest and your body can/will make use of it, as opposed to carbs, which if they aren't burned immediately, they are stored as fat.
I'm sure you already know what to do. It's just a matter of doing it. You have to take control! Go revisit your NUT and get a plan from them, track your intake, exercise more if you need to and you'll see the scale start moving down again. Good luck, hon! You can make it happen!!

You should build up the muscle a bit, I would do some reps of light weight exercises, so as to not add bulk and to be gentle on your arthritic knee. I would also add in adequate stretching, look up modified yoga poses for plus size and you'll get a good idea how to make sure you stretch and lengthen yourself as much as you can.

I was just evaluated because my esophagus is dilated and about twice the size it should be. There is a stricture where my stomach meets the esophagus, causing some major issues for me. I wanted to go from sleeve to DS, but the surgeon said because I will likely need surgery to my upper stomach area, it would be more like a modified gastric bypass.
I have Medicaid currently (I had different insurance when I was initially sleeved), so I'm really curious how long it will take to get approval, or if they will even approve it.

I realize that my current weight is higher than some people’s start weight - but today, I broke the 200s. A lifetime of being obese, this is monumental for me! I converted my sleeve to bypass on 9/11, was 314 on surgery day. My high weight was 460.
This journey is long and winding, take pleasure in every step of the way!

I realize that my current weight is higher than some people’s start weight - but today, I broke the 200s. A lifetime of being obese, this is monumental for me! I converted my sleeve to bypass on 9/11, was 314 on surgery day. My high weight was 460.
This journey is long and winding, take pleasure in every step of the way!

I realize that my current weight is higher than some people’s start weight - but today, I broke the 200s. A lifetime of being obese, this is monumental for me! I converted my sleeve to bypass on 9/11, was 314 on surgery day. My high weight was 460.
This journey is long and winding, take pleasure in every step of the way!

I had my rny 9/11 but also a myotomy and hernia repair. All laparoscopic. I do still take pain meds at night to sleep better. I have a lot of soreness in my left side where the biggest incision was made. It hurts to bend, and reach for stuff. I can get around ok tho, walking for a long while wears me out. Pain is tolerable during the day, but it’s hard to get good sleep without some meds.

I realize that my current weight is higher than some people’s start weight - but today, I broke the 200s. A lifetime of being obese, this is monumental for me! I converted my sleeve to bypass on 9/11, was 314 on surgery day. My high weight was 460.
This journey is long and winding, take pleasure in every step of the way!

Good for you, for working so hard and meeting this goal! I hope you did a happy dance!

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Congrats!

Congratulations! I will be the same when I get there! I haven't gotten my surgery date yet, but it should be a December one.

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For women, we store estrogen in our fat. So as we lose weight, we are flooded with hormones. Yes, you will get your libido back, in spades.

I realize that my current weight is higher than some people’s start weight - but today, I broke the 200s. A lifetime of being obese, this is monumental for me! I converted my sleeve to bypass on 9/11, was 314 on surgery day. My high weight was 460.
This journey is long and winding, take pleasure in every step of the way!

In one week, I'm having surgery. I have a sleeve, currently, and need to treat a rare condition called achalasia. So, to reduce complications from a myotomy, I am revising my sleeve to a modified gastric bypass.
I'm getting a second chance at losing all the weight that I needed to lose from my sleeve. I was originally over 460 lbs (not by much, but that's as high as my doctors scale went at the time). I had my sleeve, lost about 150lbs and then got pregnant. I gained back, in total, about 70lbs in a year and a half of being pregnant and post partum. Then I got back on track. I was heading in the right direction until this achalasia started about a year ago. The condition has made it very difficult for me to eat, so in the past year since being sick, I've lost another 40ish lbs... so little because about the only thing I CAN consume comfortably are carbs. (Which I really don't appreciate at all post op WLS!) Currently, I'm about 320. I'm really trying to be optimistic about losing weight and fixing my issues with eating due to the medical condition - but being a previous WLS patient and knowing the realities of post op life, I'm having a hard time NOT focusing on how loose my skin will be, what I'll look like, how I'll afford clothes - something that didn't consume me so much before because I was single and childless and made decent money... but now I'm a mom, I have an SO (and he assures me that he loves me no matter what my body looks like), money is tight... it's all just so stressful. I have body issues to work on and don't know how to change my mindset of being so critical of myself. That's definitely part of it. But there is a part of me that was okay with not "being skinny". I lost enough weight to feel better about myself, look better, but still look like ME. I need to appreciate the change, I suppose.
I just feel like I can't talk about all these things to anyone in my real life. They just don't understand. They can't relate! Can anyone here relate? How do you deal with your unshare-able thoughts?

I know exactly how you feel, and I think it's common for anyone who is obese or who used to be obese. It's a combination of our actual thoughts and societal standards making us feel guilty for not being perfect.
I feel deflated, and I still have 100lbs to lose! I do plan to (somehow) have plastics, I need a total overhaul - arms, Tummy Tuck, thigh lift, breast lift and augmentation.... which just sounds miserable to actually DO. And to go through all of that, I already know, I will find something not to life. An asymmetrical scar or something insignificant and I fear going into the rabbit hole of plastics because I already know I'll always be able to pick myself apart and find something else that needs to be "fixed".
I can't tell you how to end thoughts like that, but I would echo what others have said and say focus on what you CAN do now that you've lost this weight, and also talk to your doc about getting on an anti-depressant. I take Zoloft and it really does calm the voice in my head and allow me to enjoy the journey.
I also try to remind myself that my body is AMAZING. It has bounced back from all I've put it through, and I want to take better care of it so it can continue to amaze me as I get older.
Just know, you aren't alone thinking this way.

I am 4 years post op sleeve and still have this problem... try Biotene dry mouth spray. That stuff is amazing.

I'm having my surgery on September 13th, one week to go! Who else is having surgery that day? How are you doing? What's on your mind as you prepare for the big day?

I'm having my surgery on September 13th, one week to go! Who else is having surgery that day? How are you doing? What's on your mind as you prepare for the big day?

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I would recommend three things to do if you haven't already done them.

1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success.
2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery.
3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

pain is temporary, quitting is forever.

Keep yourself occupied! Clean up around the house, finish any projects that require lifting, etc. You won't feel up for doing much housework after surgery, so take advantage now! Keeping busy distracts you from being hungry.

I don't eat leftovers at all. I feel like leftovers are punishment. Also reheating food is so dicey when it comes to moisture content and being able to eat it. I like freshly prepared foods only. I was a snob about my food before surgery and I am even worse post-op.
How popular meal prep has became is just mind boggling to me. Purposely creating leftovers is nuts.

Hello!
I'm kinda excited to meet someone else that has achalasia! I've yet to meet anyone else that has this fun annoying auto immune disease. I was diagnosed by my bariatric surgeon with achalasia in 2011. At that point I was at 300 pounds and I too had the heller myotomy done and that did help quite a bit. With that initial diagnoses and Diet and Exercise I was able to drop 78 pounds. Initially the achalasia was pretty bad. Because of the rarity of the disease getting a diagnoses was difficult.
Then as fate would have it I developed another rare auto immune disease called myasthenia gravis in 2014. This causes my muscles, including facial and throat muscles to not work well or at all. I had a tumor that grew behind my heart on a gland called the thymus. Lots of hospital stays with this issue over a two year period. This illness requires prednisone and between that and the generalized weakness throughout my body I put back 50 of those pounds. The same surgeon suggested the bypass and did that this past April as well as another hernia repair. Because of my issues the sleeve was never an option. The myasthenia has evolved into having plasmapherisis twice a week to help lesson the symptoms. plasmapheresis is a lot like dialysis, The plasma is removed from my blood and artificial plasma is put back in.
After the bypass surgery I was having a lot of trouble swallowing and still am. I had an endoscopy done last week with hopes that he could dilate and stretch out my esophagus but when he looked at my esophagus he said that the openings were fine and my achalasia is just getting worse and that I'd have to be more careful going forward.
I did ask him what my outlook could look like at it's worst possible scenario and he said that they cut the colon and bring it up to the esophagus to help with swallowing but that in his career he's never seen it get that bad. So I think I'm just left with it being difficult and being more careful with what I eat.
My weight loss has been slower that I thought it would be. I'm down 50 pounds and today is my 4 month mark. I know that 50 pounds is substantial but I thought it wold be more by this point. I have a hard time getting my Protein in, some days even that shake is tough to swallow. My love for potatoes is over since those are hard to get down in any form, which I guess is really a good thing.
How is your swallowing been? What helps, if anything? Foods that really get to me are ground beef, chicken breast, potatos, bread and roast beef. anything dense really. Some days are better than others. Some days are down right terrible. Weird, right?

After my sleeve, my nails did this too. It was about 3 months out when it happened... and then about 3 months after that (6 mo post op) my hair started to thin out as well. I started taking a higher dose of Biotin and idk if that helped or if it was just a short term issue, but another few months after that, my hair and nails were back to normal.
I still get splitting nails about twice a year, usually in the beginning of winter and in the beginning of summer. I just cut them down and leave them alone to grow back and they are okay.