Djmohr

I am 28 months post op. Got down below my goal to 158. Over the holidays i gained now nearly 10lbs back.

I know 100% it is because of my choices and it is hard to get back on track but doable. Just remember your pouch is still there, you just need to use it properly.

I also hate the idea of the 10 to 15% regain.....I am going to fight like hell to get back down where I was when I reached goal.

The only advice I can give is get back on the plan. High Protein, lower (good carbs), lots and lots of Water and move as much as you can.

@@UpandAtom

Sorry to hear about your leg. I know what that is like, I had a 3 level cervical spinal fusion 9 months after bypass.

And then.....my activity of course came to a screeching halt for a while. Having surgery can cause the blues for sure.

The thing is, you need to up your Protein so that you don't lose muscle mass. That will leave you feeling very weak and will cause you to work much harder once you get going again.

I would not be worried about the weight loss overall, you are still moving toward a healthy weight and guys do lose faster than women.

Try to reduce your carbs a bit and increase Protein, drink lots of Water and try to get some activity even if it is just chair exercise at this point.

I am headed into surgery in 9 days and I know how I get post surgery when it feels like you are back sliding. It should getter better over time.

Incidentally, my surgery is to get rid off a lot of loose hanging skin that actually bums me out. So maybe I wont get the post surgery blues. LOL

I hope you feel better soon!

You will continue to feel crappy until you get enough fluids in you. Keep sipping Water, sf Water enhancers....anything that is sugar free that will get you drinking fluids.

Most of us had to work hard to find a Protein that works for them. I spent a small fortune on powders that first week and could not tolerate any of them. I called my bariatric nurse and she recommendation premier Protein shakes. She told me to milk them down with either regular skim milk or fairlife skim milk which has added Protein. I would use 1/3 Protein shake and 2/3 milk.

Then about 3 weeks I was able to complete convert to the shakes.< /p>

Each one has a whopping 30 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar and 160 calories. To this day it is the only Protein Shake I can stomach.

Hope you feel better soon!

Oh my gosh! C-dif is horrible, my hubby got it and ended up in the hospital.

I cannot imagine what it would be like for a WLS patient given we already get dehydrated.

So sorry you are going through this!

Its so much fun when you start to see your bones......all except the tail bone! That sucks and they say you will get used to it but my butt hurts whenever sitting.

I do love the collar bones, and hip bones, ribs....etc. I never knew where they were.

Congratulations!

I would bet it is absolutely head hunger. It makes it worse if you are watching tv commercials for the food channel.

You will have to work at distracting yourself, unfortunately head hunger is the thing that I fight most even now 28 months later.

I knit, crochet, read, play on my ipad, take a shower, do the dishes.....anything to take my mind off it and it usually works.

I did not eat for a week. I was on clear liquids only, not even a Protein shake until week 2.

You definately dont have to worry about eating but you do need to worry about getting enough fluids. It is very easy to get dehydrated after WLS.

Small sips all day long literally.

There are sites like this one that can help guide you through questions to ask your surgeon:

http://www.yourbariatricsurgeryguide.com/choose-surgeon/

This one actually allows you to find a board certified bariatric surgeon:

https://asmbs.org

Best of luck to you!

@@Babbs

I am all about the dessert too! After my father n law passes, we will be moving to the Las Vegas area. We are looking at Green Valley and Summerlin.

That being said, I also LOVE the beach specifically in Hawaii and would love to go back every few years. Its so darn expensive though and we like to take our granddaughter who loves traveling with us. That makes it even more expensive but we won't go withou her now. LOL

@@pvechiola

It sounds like you are in a situation where you likely cannot move out for several reasons. I get this as I am caring for my FIL who is 87, hearing impaired and has big time memory problems.

Fortunately we are not living with him but it may come to that in the future. We could do it but it would really be a lot to handle. He currently has a senior helper every day, 5 days per week and then hubby and I are with him the other two. It is hard on us because we work as well. Hubby out of the house and me from home. I seriously would not get anything done if I live with him.

We will see what the future holds as his health issues progress.

That being said, I hate to say this but you will have to get a thicker skin. Our parents don't always behave the way they taught us to behave. Of course that gets worse with age as well.

If you are considering weight loss surgery, the comments might actually get worse given your diet will likely look a lot different.

My father n law loves the fact that I am now thin but is always making comments about the fact that I don't eat a lot or I don't eat the same food.

He will constantly push cake, Cookies, pie and ice cream at me.

I have just learned to say no thank you politely and of course repeat myself everytime he asks because of his memory issues. After I say no thank you, that will make my tummy hurt he lets it go.

But will usually say something like: "thats a dirty rotten shame"

Rinse. Repeat.

I just remember that he loves me and doesn't know any better right now and I suck it up. I of course have a lot more patience than my husband who will get mad and yell: She doesnt want that! After he has asked me 4 or 5 times.

Oh and I almost forgot, his filters are completely gone. So if he gets a caregiver who has a weight problem he shakes his head and rudely comments about how fat she is. This is painful for me because it makes me wonder what he thought when i weighed 310lbs.

Apparently he likes the way I look so much now that he is constantly trying to slap me on the backside or tells me how pretty I am. This does make me very uncomfortable but I have learned not to get within butt slapping distance. LOL...see....filters are gone.

Thick Skin and lots of willpower. That's the only advice I have.

I had this happen frequently before my weight loss, now I have zero problem. I am not sure what the heck causes it.

@alexbrecher

I have also noticed that when you post there is quite a lag time before it grabs the post. I have double posted several times over the last few days and had to go in and delete them.

I thought maybe you guys were working on the site and it was slowing down. I had the problem both on my ipad and my laptop.

It is all about the fluids. You may think you are getting enough but you likely are not and it is effecting your skin.

There are quite a few posts about this over the last couple years I have been on this site. Drink lots and lots of Water, we dehydrate easily without even realizing it.

Not the beach but headed to vegas on friday. Haven't been on a vacation in more than two years and need one badly.

I will take the dessert over the beach, this time.....

I had my surgery two years ago now through Medica. I had to show a 2 year history with BMI over 35 w/comorbitities or 40 without.

Also I had to have 6 months of supervised diet.

These insurance companies are all so different. My insurance now covers absolutely nothing. In fact, my annual blood work wasn't covered because my PCP used the word bariatric in her coding. It cost me 2300.00

I had to go back to my bariatric center and ask for a letter showing medical necessity for annual metabolic nutritional panels. This happened in June and I had to pay it or they would send it to collections. So I paid it, and ever since I have been working on the appeal so I can get my money back.

you have to stay on top of them both before and even years after your surgery.

Maybe someday they will change all this so that they cover it on all insurance. (Yes I know I am dreaming)

This is a metabolic disease after all.

"I'm not saying that the Sleeve is a bad choice but I know of a few people who have been sleeved and two years later they want a revision and they are trying to get approvals or they are trying to diet like they did post opp and losing the battle."

@@danithomas

I just wanted to say that most that are successful post surgery do not think of their meals as a diet (other than the first couple weeks of liquid post op)

Having WLS of any kind requires diligence around eating a high Protein, lower carb well balanced food plan.

For me it got a lot easier when I stopped thinking of my new life as a diet that I had to follow and focused more on the foods that make me feel good, lose or maintain weight and look good.

I know that if I though of this as a diet, i personally would fail. I say this because I really was a professional dieter before my RNY. I would go on a diet and lose lots of weight. (80lbs was my biggest loss on Atkins) and then I would go off the plan and start eating what I thought was normal. I literally would gain all of my weight back and then some.

Most folks that have been through this have similar stories.

For me, the 9 months leading up to surgery were critical. It allowed me to change my thinking and many of my bad habits. Don't get me wrong I still have some bad habits like eating while watching TV or working on my computer. I am so thankful now for that time because it really helped me.

That does not mean that I don't get off track because I clearly have. For example I allowed myself to stop tracking my food through the holidays and I gained 7lbs. Now it is taking forever to get that weight back off. It is simply hard to get back on track.

Because I am having surgery in 12 days I don't want to try the pouch reset honestly because it will happen then. And of course when you are having plastics they don't want you to make such a drastic change to your food plan right before. If I were not having surgery I would probably use the liquid diet simply to reset myself.

When I allow more carbs/sugar into my system, I then begin craving them and therefore eating more of them. So, I know the liquid diet would detox me from that in just a few days.

So for now, I am simply back on track by eating my high Protein, lower carb diet and reducing any bad carbs that I let in over the holidays. That will allow me to maintain and possibly even lose a bit of weight.

@@10stackzz

You are right about the mind being so important. I believe that having bariatric surgery is 10% about the surgery and 90% about the head games regardless of which surgery you choose.

I don't think it is a quick fix though.... at least not for me.

I think your question is excellent.

The first few months for me were obsessive mostly because I was just trying to figure out what foods worked with my new stomach and which ones didn't.

Once I figured it out, it just became a way of life for me. It is almost like my brain is retrained to think about food to survive.

I eat to live, I don't live to eat......

That being said, I did find myself going a bit off plan over the holidays and had a 7lb gain. Now, I am working my butt off to lose that weight. Because I am at goal, losing 7lbs is actually a lot and you have to work very hard for it. The good news is, my tool (new tummy) will always be there to help me.

I will also suggest that if you have an addictive personality it might be wise to work with a therapist that can provide you with some tools to help you remain focused. I leveraged one in the beginning and if you have the right one, they can be very helpful.

This is something that can be provided via your bariatric center of excellence. They specialize in bariatric care.

I hope all goes well in your class! Good luck to you!

@@danithomas

One of the reasons for revision post sleeve is sometimes gerd gets very bad and RNY will cure it. When you suffer from gerd and it is at its worse, you have to do something to resolve it or it causes damage. Many doctors will recommend RNY, others leave it up to the patient and they choose the sleeve because they believe it to be less invasive. A lot of patients never had gerd and the sleeve because of its design will then cause it. Keep in mind that many are able to treat the gerd and the sleeve is just fine.

The sleeve is a fantastic surgery and there are many people on this site alone that have been successful in losing just as much weight as the RNY.

My gerd was so severe that RNY was definately the best option for me. Best of all, I am 2 years + post op and have not had a single episode of Gerd.

@@lisaBme

Not a dime. I actually took on a pretty major project to make enough to pay for both surgeries. I am still not quite there but close and they have a care credit program with 0 percent interest.

It is difficult to get insurance to pay for any plastics. For some insurance companies they won't even consider it but for some if you have lots of documentation from the doctor on infections caused then you might get the panni removal covered. At least that is something, the rest we are pretty much on our own.

I am in Milwaukee WI so it is a bit less expensive than if you go to NY or CA.

I paid 6500.00 for my arm lift and 17,200.00 for my abdominalplasty and breast lift with augmentation.

That is as far as I can go for a while and honestly it may be all that I do. Plastics is not fun. Instant gratification but painful. My bypass was a walk in the part in comparison.

You may have a little bit better outcome because of your age. Your skin may have more elasticity. That being said, it can also be genetics and of course how much you have to lose.

But, I am guessing if you are already dropping, it will continue to do so. Also you do need to give it some time to bounce back.

Congratulations on your weight loss! I am a bit older (53) and I have had a lot of comorbitities and I feel fantastic! I always say my only regret is not doing this much sooner. You are nice and young, I am guessing you are already feeling pretty great.

Oh, what I wouldn't give to be that young again. LOL I have a 13 year old granddaughter who is trying to grow up so fast. She stopped playing with toys at 7 and is quite the diva. She acts like she is in her twenties and I am always telling her to slow her roll. She is in such a hurry to grow up, then again I think I was like that at her age too.

As someone else said it has everything to do with swelling. Once it goes down it should get better.

I will say, I still cannot swallow fat pills but I can swallow longer tablets. For example, I cannot take NyQuil liquidcaps, they get stuck but I can take the caplets with no problem.

Yes this is normal. The important thing is to measure this early out. You will find that things like Soups, yogurt and soft foods slide through much easier leaving you room for more. Dense Proteins like meat, fish, cheese will actually fill you up faster and keep you full longer. I find that Greek yogurt definately stays with me much longer than regular yogurt, same with cottage cheese.< /p>

This is why it really is important to measure your foods, figure out what is a slider for you and stay away from them. Especially during the first year which is considered the honey moon period.

Wow! You look fantastic!

Congratulations!

@@khuuxo

I am not sure how much weight you have to lose. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if it is a lot it is likely that your apron will only continue to drop.

When I started this process I never thought I would consider having plastics and that I would be simply happy with the weight loss all by itself.

For me, I lost 152lbs which is nearly what I weigh now.

I call it the mudslide that happens when there is extreme weight loss.

So, in July I happily met with plastic surgeons and decided I would need to do something. The mudslide has actually made my back issues that I had before surgery worse. So I started with a arm lift in July and was amazed at how much it helped my neck which is fused at 3 levels. Not to mention I got outstanding results cosmetically.

In 12 days I will have a full abdominalplasty and breast lift because they are not where god intended them. I am doing this to get rid of all that loose skin and am actually hoping I get some relief on my low and mid back. My lumbar is also fused but most of my back pain is in my mid back.

I guess I found that my journey wasn't complete simply after the weight loss. I simply gained a lot of confidence which not only fixed my inside but made me want to enter the second part of my journey which was getting rid of the loose skin.

How much loose skin you end up with all depends on things like: how much you have to lose, genetics, age.

I am guessing if you have gone through WLS chances are you have a considerable amount to lose?

Best of luck to you as you continue your journey.