VSGAnn2014

Sharon, you take the cake!

@@findingnish ... not so much AT you -- just frustrated that patients aren't adequately educated about the reason for the pre-op diet. I've read so many posts here by people struggling on the pre-op diet who seem not to understand that shrinking the liver is the sole reason for the pre-op diet -- and that eating high-carb foods will completely negate their other good efforts. I know the pre-op diet is tough. It would be so much easier for patients, I think, if surgeons and their support staff did a better job of explaining all this. Good luck to you!

Yes, you can drink all your weight back on -- Mountain Dew, sweet tea, high-calorie coffee drinks, sweetened alcoholic drinks, beer, etc. No liquids challenge your sleeve's restriction at all. This is why WLS practices encourage patients NOT to drink their calories. Yes, you can eat all your weight back on -- chips, Cookies, crackers, ice cream, etc. Those foods don't challenge your sleeve's restriction at all. This is why WLS practices encourage patients NOT to eat slider foods. Yes, you can lounge all your weight back on -- not move, exercise, or be active. This is why WLS practices encourage patients to become more active and regular exercisers post-op. And yes, you can simply eat too much (even a little too much) of "healthy food." Over time, those extra calories will turn into pounds and inches, just as they always did before.

I've never vomited since WLS 20.5 months ago, and I've never "foamed." Sometimes when I've eaten too much, my gastrointestinal system does produce extra phlegm. But that's rare. You can avoid all this by not eating too much (for you) and not eating too fast (which really amounts to the same thing -- eating too much). Good luck!

It's impossible to compare two individuals' acid reflux across the Internet. But I also had acid reflux pre-sleeve. I was prescribed Ranitadine (150 mg.) twice a day, but for some dumb reason (not typical of me at all) I thought I was only supposed to take it once a day. And as we all know (or I assume we do) too much acid in the stomach mimics hunger. So one winter not long ago, I swear I packed on an extra 20-25 pounds due solely to not taking my H2 blocker antacid meds as instructed. Anyway, post-sleeve my surgeon prescribed (for 3-4 months only!) a PPI (Protonix in my case). After that I went back to Ranitadine 150 mg. 2x/day. And now, my acid reflux is no worse than it was pre-sleeve. In the meantime, I've learned a lot about what increases reflux problems -- lots of alcohol, coffee, chocolate, eating late at night, lying down soon after eating, etc. And I avoid doing those things most of the time. Or at least piling them on all at one time. I hope your acid reflux would not be aggravated by a sleeve. Because the sleeve is an amazing tool for weight loss and healthier living. I'm 20.5 months post-op, have lost 100 pounds and maintaining at 135 pounds. (I keep repeating my WLS stats on comments to new posters' threads folks, because most people are on the mobile app and can't see our profiles -- apologies to the long-time posters.) As you probably know from your research, a gastric bypass is less likely to invite reflux problems. But bypasses have some other lifestyle requirements you may have to think hard about. Many people here have had bypass surgery and are happy with their choice. It just wasn't my choice. Best to you!

I'm a classics style girl myself. Happily, that makes it more worthwhile for me to buy high-end clothing. But truth is that I buy clothes / accessories from all over the place -- from Hermes to JCPenney and even (gulp) Walmart. I don't think of all clothes manufacturers and retailers as competing with each other. When I want river shoes it's Walmart, baby. When I want a yes-that's-right-bitch! accessory I don't go to Walmart. And if I had a designer-clothing-quality sewing and tailoring skills I would also be making my own clothes. So jelly, @@Christinamo7 ! Damn, clothes are so much more fun after WLS!

@@theantichick ... I agree completely with everything in your post -- the nuances, your irritation, the idiocy of your therapist's affection for some weird ideology she's bought into. Completely agree!

@@OKCPirate ... I like it.

Just gotta say this -- that blog you quoted, @@OKCPirate , is published by a Church of Scientology front group, which is anti-psychiatry, anti-psychology to the max. If you're going to quote a source to support your libertarian views, I bet you can find more reputable, trustworthy sources than Scientology.

This is just a mini-rant, but I find it so aggravating to read about patients who didn't understand -- perhaps because they were never educated by their bariatric surgical practice -- about the sole reason for the pre-op diet, which kinds of foods to avoid during the pre-op diet and WHY. The point of the pre-op WLS diet is NOT to lose weight. It's to shrink the liver by depleting it of glycogen, thereby minimizing the risks from serious surgical complications. This is Weight Loss Surgery, folks, not Weight Watchers. /rant

Our opinions of professional and medical services are often based on our own limited experience with only a few professionals -- or maybe even a single person. And our experiences with our NUTs, psychologists, surgeons, bariatric practice office managers greatly influence our views of all others who have those job titles. If you had unsatisfactory experiences with one or two NUTs (like I did), chances are you don't think too much of the whole lot. If you have had satisfactory experiences with a single psychologist (like I have), chances are you think (like I do) that others will find them helpful, too. Likewise, if your surgeon was a brilliant cutter but lacking in bedside empathy or nutritional counseling skills, you may opine that all surgeons present like yours does. Just sayin'. Our limited, anecdotal experiences do not define how everyone in that industry works. Now if I could actually find a good NUT ....

Love, love, love these pix and your happy face. Your activities are just great! Congrats.

Meaning ...?

Oh, yeah. Perfectly normal. One of the first things I learned at online WLS forums was: Never, ever trust a fart!

Ye gads! Glad you found that out when you did. Have heard many stories of pre-op testing that revealed all kinds of things no one would have learned had they not been prepping for WLS. Congrats on learning about this.

Good for you. The advice given above by @@JamieLogical is good. How else can we help?

Ride their asses. In the nicest possible way. You can make it happen.

My shrink works with a number of bariatric patients and has seen many people go through this process. Almost a year and a half ago I asked him, "What issues do you see patients struggling with who regain weight? And by that I don't mean that they're eating too much. I'm really asking what's going on inside them that leads them to regain?" After thinking a moment, he said: "What I mostly see is that they're struggling to find new reasons and new motivations to focus on their weight and fitness. "After they hit their goal weights, many of the rewards they got while losing weight go away. They're no longer motivated by seeing the scale move down. After a while, their family and friends get used to what they look like and stop commenting on their weight loss or weight. Even people who were their strongest supporters during the weight loss phase no longer offer supportive comments. And when this positive reinforcement disappears, that has a negative effect on the patients. "So then they must find new goals and new motivations to maintain their weight and to be fit. And for some folks that's not easy." So that's one shrink's brief observations about the cause of WLS patients' weight regain.

For the record, it happens to the guys, too. It's very likely worse for women who are pre-menopausal than those who are post-menopausal.

Not sure you were asking me ... but I use Centrum Chewables. Nothing fancy. I also take a probiotic (10 billion cultures), a Biotin supplement, a fish oil capsule, and a Calcium citrate / D3 supplement daily.

I'll be even more contrarian: I think you're wasting your precious honeymoon time and violating one of the most important rules of WLS weight-losing and maintenance success: Don't graze. It sounds like you're building / reinforcing the bad habit of the "see food" diet -- if you see it, you eat it. And that never, ever ends well. If the foods you're grazing on are out on counters and tabletops, put them up and out of sight. Are you tracking everything you're drinking and eating to learn / confront how much your nibbling is "costing" you? If not, start counting calories right now. Yes, Protein is important. But calories still count -- as much as they ever did. You eat too many of them, you won't lose weight. You eat even more of them, and you'll gain weight.

Boy, oh, boy! Younger people who are still working through sexual competitions, roles, orientations, identities, comfort levels and just trying to get some sexual experience under their belts (so to speak ) compound their struggles when they're simultaneously undergoing WLS and all its issues of self-image, self-confidence, body dysmorphia, etc. I have been lurking and participating on WLS boards for nearly 3 years, and I have seen some tough stories about younger people who, otherwise healthy, had WLS, reached goal and then saw their worlds blown up. One young woman I'm thinking of found herself in a rough situation -- initially thrilled after losing over 100 pounds and becoming the Cinderella of her new social set who hung out at a hard-partying dance club. Her husband, whom she adored, began to pressure her about joining him in group sex with others they knew. She freaked out. Then she had some unexpected health problems, regained some weight, her husband backed away from the group sex scene, and the last I read she was terribly confused, depressed, afraid, angry -- you name it, she was feeling it. But last I heard she was most afraid of upsetting her husband and didn't want to go to therapy to try to work through what had just happened to her and how she could deal with her unhappiness and her renewed struggle with overweight. When we look to others for validation -- and frankly, who doesn't? -- we give away all our power to those we choose as our judges. Appropriate questions to ask include why do we need judges? Why do we choose the specific judges we pick? Why do we hand our destinies over to others? Sometimes the answers are unexpected. Even if they aren't, the answers we find can put us on a path to a healthier and happier future than we would have been before we took back our own power.

Thank you for this link. Very encouraging news re the metabolic rate effects (nil) of rapid weight loss on WLS patients: "The most telling indication that the high metabolic price “Biggest Loser” contestants paid isn’t a dieter’s destiny is a study that followed 13 pairs of subjects, matched for gender, weight and age. In each pair, one was a “Biggest Loser” contestant and the other a bariatric surgery patient. At the seven-month mark, the contestants showed an average penalty of 419 calories (and they weren’t followed after that point). After six months, the surgery patients showed a 201-calorie penalty, but after a year it disappeared." And here's the actual (2014) study referred to, done by the same researchers that did the NYTimes-reported Biggest Losers Season 8 research: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4236233/

What do you do when they don't understand? You keep moving forward toward YOUR decision to build a healthier life.

I'm truly sorry for your loss. We've had so much illness and death in our family in recent years. I believe I understand what you're going through. The spirits of our departed are so much "in the air" at times like these. Perhaps your grandmother is still there with you ... letting you know she loves you and wants only the best for you and is supporting you. I'm sure she loves you at least as much as you love her. And love never, ever, ever dies.