JamieLogical

@@Toni Ha There isn't a ton you can do about sagging skin. Stay well hydrated, take your vitamins, moisturize like crazy, and do a bit of strength training to "fill in" some of the loose skin with muscle. Ultimately, the only way to combat loose skin will be skin removal surgery.

Pretty shocked you are having weetabix and ritz crackers at 23 days post-op. My advice would be to not waste room on carbs and focus on your Protein. If you are cleared for soft or solid foods, you should probably transition away from soup as well. It's not much protein. Great for getting at least SOME nutrition in the liquid phase, but not much use beyond that point. In any case, definitely work on the protein. Meeting your protein goals will help your energy levels for sure.

There's not a ton you can do to prevent hair loss. There are a lot of contributing factors and most are out of your control. The main things you can do are work to get your Protein and Vitamins ASAP post-op. WLS patients have a lot going against them when it comes to hair loss since anesthesia, stress, rapid weight loss, and malnutrition can ALL cause hair loss. But don't let that deter you! I haven't seen many people at all post who didn't eventually get their hair back I personally lost a fair amount of hair between 3.5 and 5.5 months post op. But it did start growing back right away. Plus, no one ever died from being bald. People die everyday from being obese. So definitely worth the trade-off!

I was really strict with sticking to my food stages post op. And I was religious about getting my 100 grams of Protein per day in as soon as I was physically able. I started more intense exercise (more than just walking) at my two month mark. At that point I had managed to get my calories up to about 1100 a day. I was at about 1400 a day for most of my weight loss stage, exercising 5-6 times a week doing running, biking, and strength training. I was SUPER strict about getting my protein in, but not too worried about getting too many carbs or anything. Really, just by getting my 100 grams of protein a day, I found I didn't really have room for many carbs. But if my protein came with some carbs (breading or sauce or whatever) I was fine with that. I made sure to eat on a schedule and I made sure to never eat and drink at the same time. Those are two ways to circumvent the restriction of the sleeve, so I was pretty careful about them. Not eating on a schedule leads to grazing. Eating and drinking at the same time means you can get more food through your sleeve.

You mention soup and yogurt. Are you not drinking your protein shakes? Protein and water are the most critical things right now. Are you taking your vitamins?

@@vegbeth It takes time. Getting your protein and water in should be your top priorities and definitely don't go overboard with exercise until you are eating enough calories to sustain it. You will just work on gradually increasing your calories as you get further out from surgery. I wasn't even on solid foods until 30 days post-op. But I did push pretty hard to get up over 800 calories right after that so I could start doing some longer walks and then 1100 calories so I could start running and strength training. Once you are over 1000 a day, you should be able to start doing more serious exercise and just gradually increasing your calories as you increase your workout intensity.

Are you getting all of your Protein, Water, and Vitamins in? How often are you eating and how much? It's pretty typical to feel run down in the first few weeks post-op, since you are expending a lot of energy to heal yourself, but not taking in many calories.

@@50yearoldme Make sure you talk to your PCP about follow-up blood work and call your insurance company to make sure treatment for any complications would be covered. My PCP was great about the whole thing and scheduled me for visits and blood work at regular intervals post-op. My insurance told me that any visits to the ER, infections, or whatever else WOULD be covered. Fortunately, I had no issues whatsoever and everything went super smoothly for me.

I'm in maintenance now and try to remember to weigh daily just to make sure nothing's going awry.

Definitely don't do it! Especially not with corn chips and crackers! I wasn't allowed any "crunchy" foods for three full months post-op! Cravings are just that. Cravings. You don't have to give into them.

The point of the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver, making it easier for your surgeon to access your stomach without potentially damaging your liver. It's not about weight loss at all. The most important part of the pre-op diet is to not eat carbs. If you "need" to "cheat" make sure you do so with protein/fat... not carbs. In order for your liver to shrink, it needs to be depleted of glycogen. By not eating carbs, your body has to resort to burning glycogen for energy and that glycogen isn't replenished so long as you don't eat carbs. Your body will then enter a state called "ketosis" where it instead must begin burning fat for energy. The second you eat carbs, your body will revert to burning those and storing glycogen again, so don't do it!

I really don't know. I haven't seen much evidence of that. If I were in that situation, I think I'd try increasing calorie intake VERY gradually at the same time as increasing my cardio intensity. And then do some strength training to build more muscle, since muscle increases metabolism.

I don't track my food anymore, but I know I ALWAYS get at least 100 grams of protein a day, That is my top priority. I do also eat a fair amount of carbs, because as was mentioned by another poster, I am a distance runner. I don't go crazy with the carbs, but I don't shy away from them either, if I am confident I will make my protein goal for the day. I probably get close to 200 carbs when I am in the serious part of my training. Clicking back through some of my logs from when I was tracking food as I was training for my half marathon, it looks like I was around 2100-2500 calories, 100 grams of fat, 200 grams of carbs, and 100-140 grams of protein.

Sorry. I have not heard of him.

I went with Dr. Ariel Ortiz of Obesity Control Center (not to be confused with Elias Ortiz) and had a great experience. I have heard a LOT of great things about Dr. Illan as well. I know that BariatricPal does their due diligence and doesn't just affiliate themselves with any doctor, so you should feel confident that Dr. Illan is a great option. I agree with what everyone else said. Whatever you do, do NOT go with Almanza!

Congrats on your decision! That's always a big hurdle. Don't worry at all about going alone. You will be well taken care of from the airport all the way through. I was actually really glad I went alone. Didn't have to worry about anyone but myself. When you have a companion, it's common to feel obligated to entertain them or take care of them,

Fleur-de-lis tummy tucks are pretty common in patients who have lost a LOT of weight.

I'm not sure why do you find it discouraging, but nevertheless... thank you, because what you said makes sense. I guess I'm just so excited to be a 'regular' size person again that I got ahead of myself I just hate seeing so many posters beating up on themselves over their "slow" weight loss. I was one of those posters way back when! The truth is, your rate of loss is influenced by a ton of different factors, especially early post-op when your body is still healing and adapting. People compare themselves to others and assume that if they are losing more slowly they are doing something wrong or are "failures". It's simply not true! Everybody and every BODY is different. Comparison is a recipe for misery. If you are doing everything you are supposed to do and sticking to your plan, you WILL lose weight. I promise. How quickly you do so really won't matter once you are at goal and maintaining. If it takes you a couple months more to get to goal than some other folks, what does that matter in the grand scheme of things?

Carrots won't be a good post-op snack, but cheese cubes are good. Try for protein Snacks like cheese sticks, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, Jerky, nuts, and beef/turkey sticks. If you do Protein shakes or bars for snacks, be sure to read the labels and make sure they aren't loaded with sugar or carbs.

Short of surgery, there isn't much you can do about loose skin. Stay well-hydrated, moisturize, take your vitamins, and buy some good shapewear. For loose skin in some places you can try to do some strength training to fill it out a bit with muscle, but that won't help much for you muffin top, unfortunately.

It sucks you aren't given a choice. It should be your choice. I personally chose sleeve over bypass for a bunch of reasons, but it was MY choice. You should be given that same opportunity. Here are some of the reasons I chose sleeve: No rerouting of my intestines requiring multiple joins where there could be potential leaks. No malabsorption.. sure it's great for losing weight faster, but it can also lead to lifelong deficiencies. Also, I'm a runner and it is critical for me to be able to get in enough calories to fuel my body. Removal of the unused portion of my stomach. I hated the idea of my "old" stomach still being inside me and potentially developing ulcers or cancer or something and not being easily accessible with an endoscopy. Maintain the use of my pyloric valve. I was *really* weirded out by the idea that my pyloric valve would still be there, attached to my old stomach and opening and closing uselessly in response to signals from my new stomach. Ew. No dumping. Some people like the idea of dumping, because it's a deterrent to eating bad foods, but I wanted the option to eat small amounts of sweets and carbs down the road, once I was in maintenance. Also, not everyone who has RNY gets dumping, so it's risky to assume you will. Cheaper. I was self-pay and sleeve is just downright cheaper. My BMI was also right around 40 when I started considering surgery. I managed to lose all of my excess weight and have been maintaining for 15+ months. So sleeve was definitely the best choice for me. But, again, everyone is different and should be allowed to make the best choice for themselves.

One way you might be able to curb snacking is to eat on a schedule. Allow times for snacks, but stick to a schedule with them. This is what you will have to do post-op anyway. Immediately post-op, you won't have normal "full" or "hungry" signals. You likely won't even WANT to eat a lot of the time. But you will need to eat on a schedule to make sure you are getting all your protein in. So go ahead and try to get into that habit now. Another good idea would be to focus on high protein snacks. Never eat "carb-only" snacks.

I was overweight my entire life, though not obese until I was into my 20's. I had lost and regained massive amounts of weight in the past, but never maintained at anything approaching "normal" for very long. Honestly, my friends and family had seen me lose and regain weight so many times, that they never really commented on my weight-loss post-WLS. I think they were all afraid I would gain it back again. Not until I was very close to goal did I start getting comments about being "too skinny", though I am still technically "overweight" even now. I had some coworkers who didn't know me as long who did compliment and comment on my weight loss quite a bit. That always made me feel pretty good. The weird category is people who never knew me when I was fat. I've been at goal for 15+ months now and was close to normal-looking for probably 20 pounds or so before goal, so I actually have a lot of coworkers and acquaintances now who never knew what I was like before. That's a weird dynamic. The are always shocked if I tell them I used to be fat or show them old pictures. They can't really comprehend it, I guess. Dating-wise... I did separate from my husband last May (now officially divorced) and dipped my toes into the dating pool. I definitely get a lot of attention from guys now. I don't do online dating, but I do a lot of Meetups and I am usually pretty popular at them. I am confident and happy. I think that has as much to do with it as my actual physical appearance. I still have moments when I will walk into a store and head over towards the plus sizes. Or walk into a store that doesn't carry plus sizes and feel self-conscious like people are looking at me like I don't belong in there. But those experiences are fewer and further between the further out from surgery I get.

My first instinct is to just not respond to this because it is so discouraging to me when I see posts like this. Stalls happen. Everyone loses weight at different rates. Are you getting your Water and Protein in? Are you following your food stages? Are you eating on a schedule and measuring/weighing your food? Are you getting up and moving every day? If yes to all of those questions, you are doing nothing wrong. I "only" lost 15 pounds my first month and I still got to goal and have been maintaining for 15 months. This is a marathon, not a sprint. There is literally ZERO reason for you to have to lose the weight "fast". Your sleeve is forever!

I simply meant that by the time you are losing hair, whatever triggered the hair loss took place months ago so there is nothing you can do *right now* to stop it. The vast vast majority of WLS patients lose some hair. Some lose a lot of hair. There are so many attributing factors, that it's not really possible to predict how much hair you will lose or how long you will lose it for. The only things within your control are your nutritional intake, but that is just one small piece of the puzzle. WLS have a quadruple whammy when it comes to hair loss. Anesthesia has been shown to cause hair loss. Rapid weight loss has been shown to cause hair loss. Stress and trauma have been shown to cause hair loss. And malnutrition has been shown to cause hair loss. WLS patients are usually subject to three or four of these.