Babbs

Yeah. Be nicotine free 4-6 weeks before surgery.

Ha!

You know, I just may just have to go completely dark from the Internet for a while. If I hear one more person asking me to give that walking, talking personality disorder a 'chance', I'm going to puke.

Yeah, I do that when I stall.

Be patient. Takes at least a few weeks to feel human again. Nobody said this was a walk in the park.

Speaking of walking, try to a little. It really helps make you feel better and speeds up healing.

I have heard of some doctors prescribing it several years out for regain, but not to help get to goal, no.

Look, people love to trash Phentermine on these forums, but I just look at it as just another tool in the fight against obesity. So what if there's several different tools needed to get there? If it's doctor supervised, I see no problem with it?

I also find it extremely hypocritical that people who have turned to major surgery to lose weight can poo poo a weight loss drug.

I've been maintaining my weight now for well over a year, but if for some reason I felt I needed to take these drugs to stop regain or take regain off, you bet your bottom I would.

@@jenn1

LOL. This is what I just posted in the "What do I do when I hit maintenance" thread. Timely.

Well, and just to give you an idea how fast things can go south:

I was towing the line really well around Christmas. Like staying the same weight within literally a half pound. I was so proud of myself!

Then winter hit here in Boise.

We got more snow in the last couple of weeks than we've gotten in literally 2 winters. @jenn1 can vouch. We were trapped in our neighborhoods, people couldn't get to work, school was closed for 6 days, and we were shoveling snow every couple of hours for a week straight. I was having to forgo the gym to take my son to work because his sedan couldn't get out of his subdivision for a week. Every time I would get enough gumption to go to the gym, I'd decided to not go because the roads were so treacherous. I figured shoveling snow would suffice.

Between not going to the gym for almost 2 weeks, and a little comfort and frustration eating, I am up 3 pounds as of this morning. Just like that. The good news is I think there's a break in the weather, and I actually made my ass go to the gym today and I feel better But it will take me a month to get this off. Honestly.

Life happens, but we have to learn to adapt and roll with the punches without it totally derailing our progress. This is the hardest part of the whole thing.

Me! I lost all my excess weight and have kept it off by eating on a schedule and eating every 2-3 hours.

2.5 years out, and it still works for me

Enjoy it. It doesn't last.

I know, here comes little miss sunshine, lol.

I did enjoy not being hungry for about 18 months, though. That's a lot longer than a lot of people!

I'm sure I'll have "slip ups" and snow days of my own.

That's cute. I'm going to start calling my slip ups snow days.

"Man, I had a really bad snow day today". LOL.

I counted everything I could as Fluid. I was never a Water drinker and still struggle with it, so I drink a lot of herbal teas, coffee, no calorie iced tea, and use squirty stuff in my Water when I actually drink it. So yes, I counted my shakes, too, when I was newly post op. Still alive after 2.5 years.

Occasional? I drink it every day!

2-3 cups. I started drinking it again around 6 weeks.

Also, what @@Bufflehead said. A lot of surgeons actually want you to count it as your Fluid intake.

You ain't living until you've bent over in pants just a tad too tight and split the ass out when you're at work.

Good times.

I can't tell you how many times I blew the crotch out of my pants getting into my work van.

@

Yeah, when my hubby was 300 pounds (he had the bypass almost 11 years ago), I used to see his crotch ripped out of his pants all the time. I would be like "How are you DOING that?!"

Thanks everyone for the great advice! When I heard that this was going to be a lifestyle change forever, I sure thought that once I reached my goal, I'd be fine to do what I wanted and go back to normal. I think many people have that misconception. Another misconception is that surgery is the easy way out. HAHAHAHAHA!!! this has been one of the most challenging times of my life! But oh so worth it. I will never go back to the way I use to eat and do what I did to my body. I am not a judgmental person by far but I find myself being disgusted when I see coworkers eat their 1500+ calorie fast food meal. The best thing this journey and this site has done is educate me on how much food affects your health and quality of life.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

@@gustavio

Well, and just to give you an idea how fast things can go south:

I was towing the line really well around Christmas. Like staying the same weight within literally a half pound. I was so proud of myself!

Then winter hit here in Boise.

We got more snow in the last couple of weeks than we've gotten in literally 2 winters. @@jenn1 can vouch. We were trapped in our neighborhoods, people couldn't get to work, school was closed for 6 days, and we were shoveling snow every couple of hours for a week straight. I was having to forgo the gym to take my son to work because his sedan couldn't get out of his subdivision for a week. Every time I would get enough gumption to go to the gym, I'd decided to not go because the roads were so treacherous. I figured shoveling snow would suffice.

Between not going to the gym for almost 2 weeks, and a little comfort and frustration eating, I am up 3 pounds as of this morning. Just like that. The good news is I think there's a break in the weather, and I actually made my ass go to the gym today and I feel better But it will take me a month to get this off. Honestly.

Life happens, but we have to learn to adapt and roll with the punches without it totally derailing our progress. This is the hardest part of the whole thing.

I wanted to lose a bit more past goal because of the "bounce" that naturally seems to happen a couple of years out, so I just kept doing what I was doing until my body just stopped losing 7 pounds past my goal of 150. I'm glad I did that, too, because I am constantly fighting 5 pounds, and being 5 pounds over my goal of 150 would piss me off, lol. Instead, I have wiggle room now. If I get close to the 150 mark, I adjust accordingly to get back down to my comfort zone. But it doesn't mess with my head knowing I'm "over" my goal weight, if that makes sense.

Just a word of advice and my 2 cents.

Oh, and once you're there, you get the fun job of finding the balance of eating more in order to maintain, but not too much as to gain.

Good times!

A lot of them do a blood test to test for the presence of nicotine in your system. If so, they may cancel the surgery.

If you've got GERD, get the byapss. Unless you're willing to live with the possibility of it getting worse.

I had it before surgery, but was pretty adamant about getting the sleeve. I was kept on liquids for 4 weeks longer than I should have been (6 weeks total), have had several endoscopy's, and am still on medication for it 2.5 years post op.

I could pursue a revision, but it is what it is and I'm just living with it. It's pretty well controlled with medication now. Otherwise I've been very happy with the sleeve. It's what you're willing to live with, I guess.

Not everyone experiences pain or nausea when they eat or drink at first. I didn't. Most people in these forums are experiencing issues one way or another, so you'll just see the problems posted mostly.

Other than some initial pain waking up from surgery, and some problems with Gerd that kept me on liquids a bit longer, my recovery was easy peasy.

My mom used to say "Don't borrow trouble". Be happy your recovery is going well!

For me, it was easier to lose weight with surgery than without. I was less hungry, and getting fuller faster kept me satisfied. I'd say I didn't feel true hunger until about 18 months out. I can honestly say it was the easy way.

Now with maintenance? I work just as hard as any non surgical person to keep the weight off, just with the tiny added benefit of the sleeve. But I could easily eat around that if I choose.

This one drives me CRAZY. I bet hundreds if not thousands of people DIE every year because the social stigma against WLS deterred them from getting life-saving surgery.

First of all, we all know there is nothing "easy" about WLS. It's weeks/months of misery and recovery and takes a lifetime of commitment and hard work.

Second of all, even if WLS was "easier" than doing it the "hard way", why is that a bad thing? As a society, don't we strive for efficiency? They are always coming up with ways of making every aspect of life quicker and easier. So why is "easy" bad?

Thirdly, it really seems to be a double-standard when it comes to WLS versus other medically necessary surgery. You never hear anyone saying that getting a knee replacement is the "easy way out". "They should just walk it off and fight through the pain." So why is getting surgery to correct other medical issues okay, but WLS is not?

This post is beyond perfect.

You ain't living until you've bent over in pants just a tad too tight and split the ass out when you're at work.

Good times.

Once you hit your first stall here soon, it will slow down. Then you'll long for the days of that quick weight loss.

I'm going to a say what I ALWAYS say in these threads when a pre op asks the ol' "How much weight did you lose in XX amount of time?":

The answers will vary wildly depending on age, gender, starting weight, activity levels, medications, underlying illnesses, whether you're a revision etc.

The older you are, the slower the losses.

The less you have to lose, the slower your losses.

Men lose much faster than women (and we hate them for it).

Revisions lose slower as a rule.

Obviously someone who is limited with activitiy may lose slower.

That being said, once you're post op, try not to get into the trap of comparison. It is a waste of good energy that can be used elsewhere and is counter productive to your goals. People have a tendency to have VERY unrealistic weight loss expectations with these surgeries for some reason.

My answer? 17 pounds the first month.

Also, the info I posted above is on a DS page. Here's the link if you want to take a look!

http://www.dsfacts.com/index.php#

Yes. 98% of us have experienced it, and gotten through it. Gotten through many more, too. Here's why this particular stall happens:

A "stall" a few weeks after surgery is not uncommon, and here's why.

Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs. of Water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when a patient is not getting in enough food, the body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. Then when 2 lbs. of glycogen is used a patient will also lose 8 lbs. of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs. that most people lose in the first week of a diet.

However, when the body stays in a caloric deficit state the body starts to realize that this is not a short-term problem. Then the body starts mobilizing fat from adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But the body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. As it puts back the 2 lbs. of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs. of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though the patient might still be losing energy content to their body, the weight will not go down or it might even gain for a while as the retention of water dissolves the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.

Yum!! I LOVE crab so much!